The property is one of the very few Grade 2* listed small office buildings in the UK and the owners are very conscious of their privilege and duties of maintaining it to a very high standard. Marble Arch is a very fine example of its type with architectural relevance to the date of its completion at the start of the eighteenth century.
The 'Marble Arch' property refers to the stunning building above and to the righthand side of the archway viewed from King Street. This is part of the original larger building which was built in 1700. It was first known as The Mermaid Inn and then (after confusion on the faded sign) The Angel. It's purpose was a coaching house and it remained as such until 1732.
The central arch of the building welcomed its guests and their transport by offering livery for the horses and housing and maintenance for the coaches in the grounds behind the building. A simple stone-built mounting block still stands alongside the cobbled courtyard which served arriving and departing horse travellers.
The entrance leads down to the recently-restored Marble Arch Cottage to the right. On the left, the former out-buildings of the original complex, which provided stabling, storage and garaging, lead to small areas of vegetation for recreational and leisure use. This rectangular area was originally connected at its eastern edge to a long strip of land, the vegetable garden, which pointed eastward.
The area of land including the whole original building of the left and right sides of the archway and subsidiary buildings became known as Marble Arch. Historically, this name was adopted as its identity by the local community of the time, ironically likening it to Marble Arch of London. In context, to the northeast of this curtilage there is Drury Lane which is said to have added to the London connection.
The style and characteristics of this property is typical of a substantial number of similar properties of the early Georgian era built in Knutsford. However, Marble Arch is believed to have existed on its present site as a timber-framed building for 2 to 3 centuries prior to early 1700s. It was a common feature to clad existing properties in brick and add multiple-paned windows to create the classic Georgian look.
King Street, so-named because it welcomed royalty in the period and was the main thoroughfare through Knutsford. The street enjoyed a healthy economic growth as Knutsford was located on the main North-to-South route carrying people and mail in those days.
Marble Arch was part of Knutsford's success in this period serving as a coaching inn. Its hostelry catered for travellers of all status and helped to bring both fame and fortune to the town which only previously had been a quiet market town. Knutsford has a large number of listed buildings with varying characteristics and a handful of Georgian properties with a similar dramatic presence as Marble Arch. Several of these survive in the immediate vicinity on King Street.
A very good account of Knutsford during the years of 1650-1750, written by Pam Savage, a respected local historian, depicts the life of Peter Wood, a local Cheshire man who resided in Knutsford from 1672- 1706. At the turn of the century, he lived in Marble Arch with his housekeeper and with two other men who rented two rooms from him. Together they occupied the total of 7 rooms that form the main body of the three-storey building at the front of Marble Arch.
In the novel Cranford written by Elizabeth Gaskell, Lord Maulever stayed in Marble Arch while visiting Captain Brown.
The main part of the property, which faces onto King Street and extends to the depth of the central archway, is believed to have been built in its current shape and form as a brick building in the early 1700s. It is understood that the origins of the building commenced life in the 13th century as a wooden framework made from oak. Subsequently the wooden frame was encased in brickwork.
A 20th century postcard, believed to have been printed between 1955 and 1965 shows that behind the mounting block there was an opening in the wall, behind which a stone stairway led upwards. This is assumed to have provided access to an upstairs room used as a waiting area for either coach or horses to arrive. Many activities and forms of business were undertaken in the property over time including that of the coaching inn but also a tannery, bakery, nursery, school for girls, solicitor's practice and latterly, a financial investment company. The property has been used as a private dwelling, as indicated in the current listing since 1733 and witnessed by census records.
There is a mixture of window styles on either side of the property at the rear pertaining to the split level rooms. The north elevation contains 4 differing frames, including the small cellar window. It is recorded that the two lower rear rooms - and quite probably the cellar - formed an earlier building which housed a still for the production of alcohol which was owned or operated by John Partington. This is indicated to have existed prior to the rebuilding of Marble Arch in 1714 where quite possibly the timber-framed building of earlier origins, as mentioned previously, was converted to a brick building. Marble Arch acquired the much-applauded Georgian frontage, a very fashionable practice during the period that extended from early to late 18th century.
The yard leading from the entry beneath the arch and progressing alongside Marble Arch Cottage has been examined and is considered to contain glacial cobbles (as opposed to river cobbles or sea pebbles). The cobbles can be of irregular shape, some are smooth, polished or rough, square, rectangular, oval or quite roundish but are also of varying size. On inspection, their bases which are hidden in the ground are often quite flat which identifies them as being derived in the ice age (due to the very fact that they were pushed along the ground while being rounded and smoothed off on the upper sides).
The ownership of the whole site passed to Tatton Estates (actual date unknown but most probably prior to 1836 when tithe maps originated). Additional buildings were present for stabling and storage along with three separate cottages which were attached to the rear of the right side of the main building. These buildings were originally known as 1,2,3 Roscoes Yard.
Eventually, in the latter stages of ownership by Tatton Estates, the employees were granted lifetime occupation of the 3 cottages. Upon the occupants' respective demises, the cottages gradually changed ownership and the dwellings were combined to become the current Marble Arch Cottage.
In the late 19th century, a box-like mock Tudor unit was attached to the northern elevation at the rear of the archway. A toilet was installed in the unit with access on the inside of the first floor from a corridor leading to Room 6 above the archway. This exhibits the indication of a Victorian era piece of engineering using a large decorative wrought iron L-bracket to support the weight of the unit.
In 1955, Tatton Estates sold the left side of the whole building and curtilage including courtyard and the long garden to Walter Cecil Walker. Walker subsequently sold off the garden area within the same year. Similarly, a conveyance dated 29 January 1955 transferred ownership of the right side to Gerald Leicester Hartley (solicitor) who then used this part of the property for his practice. Consequently, a new set of property deeds was generated for the new property on the right, for which there is no separate previous history recorded.
The property was subsequently purchased by Ronald and Ann Walker, who used it as the place of work for their company, Clarion plc up until June 2019 when it was sold to the current owner, EDMS (UK) Ltd.
Details come from formal listings
The noteworthy features of the property (ie. right half of the former coach house) lie in the uniformity of the red brick in the Georgian facade to the front. There are eight double-hung, single-glazed sash windows comprising two 12-pane windows to the ground floor at street level with two 15-pane sashes symmetrically above them at first floor. Also a first floor 12-pane sash window is positioned above the arch with three 9-pane sashes at the second floor in vertical line with the first floor windows. Above each window are flat-gauged brick heads (also known as Skewback, Jack or Georgian) with central keystones.
Entrance to the property is gained by a main door at its left side beneath the central arch. The arch is composed of self-supporting stonework with left and right sides formed with prominent white-painted quoins. Also the extreme left and right corners of the front of the whole building are determined by intricate interlocking white-painted cornerstones. There are white-painted horizontal strings of stone banding dividing the storeys and forming the base line of the parapet. Above the string in the parapet, there are equally-spaced vertical bands of white-painted stone for decoration. A black-painted projecting water table is present at the base of the property facing King Street.
The south elevation of the property, facing onto a communal walkway, includes three sash windows towards the front and middle of the property. A topmost fourth window on the south elevation is a "Georgian" style 12-pane window with a top opening of 3-panes. At the rear part of the property in the low-roof section, there are two casement windows which have been installed in the property in more recent times.
The first and second floors have suspended timber floors .
There is a suspended timber staircase which leads from the ground floor to the second floor landing with half landings between the floors.
The stairway consists of splat balusters, oak newel posts and varnished handrails. This feature of historic interest forms part of the listing.
Exposed oak beams run from north-to-south in the four ground floor rooms except for the reception room where they run from east-to-west. Similarly, all three rooms on the first floor have exposed beams running from north-to-south, as does the beam in the second floor rear room. Additionally the beams are fully exposed in the vaulted ceilings of the second floor front rooms.
Charming oak panelling lines the walls from floor to ceiling in the ground floor front room. Inbuilt cupboards, hung with historic exterior brass hinges, on either side of the chimney breast are finished in the same wood.
The outstanding appearance presented by the frontage (western elevation) when viewed from King Street is held in high esteem. This facade has been substantially and sympathetically repaired and restored by the owners, returning the building to its magnificent presence on the street scene - worthy of its grade II* listed status.
We here at Marble Arch consider that we have maintained the integrity of a beautiful building whilst embracing 21st Century facilities. The building has been sensitively renovated with a keen awareness of its unusual and historic origins.
Note on Grading:
All buildings erected before 1700 that "contain a significant proportion of their original fabric" will be listed. Most buildings built between 1700 and 1840 are listed.
There are three types of listed status for buildings in England and Wales
For further information on grading see (for example): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listed_building
(The formal information on Marble Arch is at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388383)
Please contact us if you want more information or have any questions:
07804 796902