NHER 65547 (Monument record) - Site of 51 Starling Road

Former printing works, 51 Starling Road.

The principal buildings in this group are a two-storey brick office building fronting onto Starling Road and a large adjoining workshop area to the north. A later extension to the workshop and other single storey buildings to the north form two sides of an open courtyard adjacent to the main structures. The office building and the adjoining workshop were constructed in 1925 by the British United Shoe Machinery Co. Ltd., who supplied machinery to Norwich’s then thriving boot and shoe manufacturing industry. In the late 20th century the site was acquired by Gallpen Press Ltd, a firm of printers that had operated in the city c.1910. This change in use saw the remodelling of the main buildings and the construction of the various ancillary structures that now stand to the north.
Information from (S1).

January 2020. Building Survey.
Level 2 Building Survey of former printing works ahead of proposed demolition.
It is argued that the principal aesthetic interest of these buildings comes from the muted Art Deco style of the main office building’s façade. This Flemish Bond brick façade bears a date stone inscribed ‘1925’ and a large concrete panel just below the parapet carrying the name ‘British United Shoe Machinery Co Ltd’, which serves to preserve the connection with this industry. The side elevations are much less ornate, with English Bond brickwork and simple concrete lintels above the windows. A number of the rooms in this building had been partitioned during the later 20th-century redevelopment of the site, although the original arrangement was still discernible. There were few interior features of note, one minor exception being the timber staircase in the stairwell area of the main entrance, which is decorated with geometric patterns that continue the Arc Deco motif.
The workshop building remained a large open area and retains its original steel frame and timber infill roof, which also has three decorated cupolas that carry the ventilation system.
The later 20th-century buildings were also recorded as part of this survey but are of little interest. It is noted that the east-to-west aligned extension at the northern limits of the site was constructed along the line of the boundary wall and therefore potentially contains remnants of slightly earlier structures associated with another former industrial site to the north.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 31 March 2022.

Now demolished.
P. Watkins (HES), 31 March 2022.