NHER 70227 (Building record) - Former Norfolk County Council Stores, 189 King Street

The northern, older portion of this complex is included in the Norwich Local List (S1), although no details appear to be recorded in the supporting documents produced to date.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 August 2026.

November 2019. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of potential heritage impact of proposed development that would see the demolition of the former Norfolk County Council Stores building.
This building consists of two distinct elements, with the earlier, northern structure likely to date to the 19th century and the southern structure a mid-20th-century addition.
The earlier, northern building comprises two similar east-to-west aligned brick ranges extending back from the river. Both have hipped roofs at their eastern ends and simple vertical gables to the west. Various bricked-up openings can be seen in the eastern façades of both ranges. The western gables are largely rendered, although an exposed section of the west wall of the southern range show signs of multiple phases of construction - including the potential incorporation of flint/cobble fabric from a smaller, lower-gabled structure. The northern, now internal wall of the southern range also has sections that are of flint cobble and brick construction that potentially represent surviving elements of an earlier structure. The southern range is open to the ceiling, exposing what appear to be the original roof trusses and rafters. The northern façade of the north range is of nine bays, with nine brick infilled windows associated with its upper ground floor and a further nine above relating to its first floor. Further infilled openings are associated with its lower ground floor/basement level, which diminish in size to the west due to the change in ground level between the river and King Street. A date stone is set into the brickwork towards the roof level that appears to read 'J.H.M 18'36'. This potentially gives an age to the building, although this is somewhat at odds with the available cartographic evidence. It is clear that both the street and river frontages of the site had been developed to some extent by at least the early 18th century and both Hochstetter's map of 1789 and the 1830 map by Millar and Manning show a series of substantial building ranges extending back from the river. Morant's reasonably detailed map of 1873 does however show open ground at the site of the northern range of the extant building and only a relatively small structure to the south. This is at odds with the Ordnance Survey 1:500 Town Plan map of 1885 (S2), which shows this block of land to be almost entirely built over. The northernmost, older of the two extant buildings corresponds with a large structure shown extending from the King Street frontage to the river that had most likely functioned as some form of warehouse. Although shown as a single building it is clear from a 1928 Aerofilms aerial photograph (S3) that it comprised a series of distinct elements, with the surviving eastern ranges abutted to the west by separate ranges with lower rooflines. These western ranges were demolished at some point in the latter half of the 20th century but traces of them can be seen in the western walls of the extant buildings.
The 1885 maps shows two malthouses at the site of the southern building, although these had both been entirely demolished by the 1920s. The extant structure dates to around the 1950s and has brick walls with parapets on both its eastern and western façades and a saw-tooth roof. Due to the changes in site elevation it has a single-storey western elevation and a two-storey eastern elevation.
See reports (S4) and (S5) for further details. See also structural appraisal report (S6) for floor plans and additional photographs.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 August 2026.