Building record 1548100000 - Victoria House, Victoria Road

Late 19th century 2 storey workshop, built of brick under a slate roof, with 5 sets of industrial windows in the taller main block, and two sets of windows in the slightly lower bay at the south end. The windows are vertical in shape, with brick arches, and have heavy metal frames and small frames. The building is typical of the many factories and workshops built in Chesham for the boot and shoe or wooden ware industries at this period, and is similar, for instance, to the boot factory at 71-79 Waterside, though on a smaller scale. Many of these buildings have either been destroyed by fire or have been subject to redevelopment and survivors are now rare. Victoria House has considerable architectural and historic significance for Chesham as a little-altered and distinctive visual record of a very important phase in the growth of the town, especially as its immediate neighbourhood reflects the associated social order of the time. The terraces laid out along Gladstone Road below provided workers' housing, while the attached grander villa, with fancy ironwork porch, at 72 Victoria Road presumably served as the proprietor's house. [Photos in 2010]. (B1).