NHER 55894 (Building record) - 3 King Street

3 King Street. Previously recorded under NHER 12908.

December 1951. Listed, Grade II.

November 1977. Field Observation.
Nos 1-9 (odd) King Street visited by E. Rose (NAU).
Similar [to No. 1 King Street; NHER 12908] but in yellow brick and doorway leads to open passage at one end of façade. Above is a Venetian window. Bears old lamp bracket. Between No. 3 and No. 5 is a link (counted as part of No. 3) in red brick. Two bays, two storeys, pilastered, with aprons below upper windows. Subsided on north. Late 17th century?
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 2 November 1977. Information from record card (S1) and file notes (S2).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 11 April 2023.

No. 3 is believed to be Dr Chadwick's House which is said to have had a Jacobean overmantel - see NHER 5535 (Clifton House) for a similar example. This may otherwise relate to No. 3A, the link block [NHER 55895].
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 10 August 1984. Information from record card (S1).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 11 April 2023.

North façade to alley of No. 3 is four-bay, 18th century red brick, flat-arched windows but stands on a plinth of much older bricks (some glazed) topped with stone - footings for timber frame? Bricks have several graffiti with date 1717 on each and varying initials, one WA, presumably William Allen who owned the house then. The date 1717 is probably when the brick house was erected.
Details from E.M. James (KLM).
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 4 September 1987. Information from record card (S1).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 11 April 2023.

The plinth in the alley to the north has been cemented over, thus hiding or destroying the evidence noted above.
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA) and E.M. James, 20 November 1998. Information from file notes (S2).

In 1993 revised listing (S3) No. 3 is noted as late 15th-century hall house remodelled early 18th-century, refronted mid 18th century, hall range rebuilt in late 20th century and crownpost given to Lynn Museum. However, the only internal feature described is a fine 18th-century staircase. The link [NHER 55895], now numbered as 3A is described as an early 18th-century building.
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA). Information from file notes (S2).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 11 April 2023.

It is noted in (S4) that this property incorporated a refined version of the crown post roof seen elsewhere in the town, with iron nails rather than wooden dowels being used to nail together the crown post truss over the hall. This is described as very unusual and the crown post was a single piece of wood and had no mortice holes for braces to be joined in the normal way. This is the crown post described above as having been moved to the Lynn Museum.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 28 November 2018.

Excerpt of current Listing Description:
"House. Late C15 hall house, remodelled early 18th century, refronted mid 18th century, split into flats late 20th century when hall range demolished (crown-post over hall now in Lynn Museum), hall range rebuilt 1989 as flats. Red brick with yellow brick facade and slate roofs. Usual 'L'-plan form with entrance passage set to right. No.3A to right of passage [NHER 55895] formerly part of this house. Façade of two storeys in five bays. Entrance to passage via an open-pedimented timber archway supported on engaged Ionic columns...over the entrance [is] a wide Venetian window of mid-19th-century vintage. Wide timber modillion eaves cornice and gabled roof. Tall internal gable end stacks. To rear is a two-storey, four-bay, early 18th-century red brick range. Moulded platband between floors...Gabled roof. Three gabled dormers with casements...New range abutting [rear of street range] to west.
Interior: Very fine early 18th-century open string staircase to left of entrance doorway. Three barley-sugar balusters per tread, the tread-ends carved. Ramped moulded handrail runs between square newel stops, the stops supported by a cluster of four similar balusters. Ramped, but plain, dado panelling to match."
Information from (S3).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S3) for the full listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 11 April 2023.