Development of a Conservation Strategy.
Charles Brown & Sons hardware business, founded in 1877, occupied a continuous frontage at 60-66 East Street, Colchester until recently when the buildings were purchased by a developer. A conversion to residential use was subsequently carried out according to the conservation plan prepared by Inkpen Downie for the Borough Council.
The buildings were originally developed over the 14th and 17th centuries as merchant housing and workshops, and they now form a prominent survivor in probably the most coherent group of historic buildings in the Colchester conservation area. Analysis of the building structure revealed that the buildings were originally three separate tenements.
Colchester Borough Council instructed the conservation plan with the purpose of establishing a strategy for ensuring their conservation and future maintenance.
Inkpen Downie's research identified that a change of use and subdivision of the building to three separate dwellings, would be both a viable strategy for their conservation, and create minimal interference to the historic fabric. The study was completed in collaboration with historian Philip Aitkin and Colchester Building Preservation Trust.
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