Thomas Parr's House and Warehouse, Colquitt Street

1799 
Grade II 

The complex of buildings built for Thomas Parr is one of the earliest remaining residence/warehouse hybrid uses that was so characteristic of the Duke Street area as the area developed following the construction of the Old Dock in 1715. 

This particular example represents an evolution of the dual use of a site, with the residence and the warehouse separate but sharing the same plot, and the concept of mixed use on the site is still apparent. 

The house became the Royal Institution when it fell out of residential use in 1817, and it was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1822.   

It consists of a main three-storey, five-bay central house with the central three bays breaking forward, and a two storey pavilion on either side, connected to the main building by walls. 

All the windows have flat heads with glazing bar sashes. The main building has a projecting Doric porch designed by Edmund Aiken circa 1815, with a stucco architrave to the entrance and a fanlight. The rainwater head on the main house has the date 1800 and a lion mask. 

To the rear of this group on Parr Street there is a brick built, five-storey warehouse. Unusually it has stone dressings, and is a good example of an early warehouse with its floor to roof loading bays.