Summary
Late-C17 dwelling, altered in the C18 and C19, re-fronted and further altered in the C20.
Reasons for Designation
27-28 Queen Street, a late-C17 dwelling altered in the C18, C19 and C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Historic Interest:
* the building was the childhood home of John Flamsteed FRS, the first Astronomer Royal. His calculations and observations on Queen Street have made an enduring contribution to our understanding of the universe;
* the building has associations with other, internationally-renowned figures including John Whitehurst FRS, one of the founding members of The Lunar Society of Birmingham, and Joseph Wright of Derby, an influential artist of the English Enlightenment era.
Architectural Interest:
* the principal facade of the building, although a later reinstatement, is a good example of its type with good quality detaling;
* despite some later alteration, the building retains C17 and C18 internal features including oak panelling and a newel post stair.
History
27-28 Queen Street (the former Smith's Clock Works) is understood to have been erected in the 1660s as a dwelling for Stephen Flamsteed, alderman of Derby. It was the childhood home of Flamsteed’s son, John Flamsteed FRS (1646-1719) who inherited it after his father passed away in 1688. John Flamsteed was educated at Derby Grammar School and experienced poor health in his teenage years. It was this poor health that led him to pursue an interest in astronomy due to it being a relatively sedentary occupation. Flamsteed became the first astronomer in Britain to be given the title ‘Astronomer Royal’, a position created by King Charles II in 1675. As an astronomer, Flamsteed urged for the Royal Society to use Derby as a meridian baseline (a north to south line selected as the zero reference for astronomical observations), with his suggested meridian passing through the back garden at 27 Queen Street. This was not adopted, with the Society instead preferring to have the reference line pass through a naval port, with Greenwich becoming the chosen location. During his time in Derby, Flamsteed also worked on the equation of time, determining that time measured by the sun differs from the time measured by clocks.
In 1764 the house was acquired by John Whitehurst FRS (1713-1788), clock maker and geologist who was one of the founding members of The Lunar Society of Birmingham. Whitehurst was a pioneer of modern geological science and is particularly known for devising his own scale of barometric pressure. He lived at 27 Queen Street until 1780 during which period he entertained several significant figures including Benjamin Franklin, Dr Erasmus Darwin FRS, and Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond. Whitehurst carried out a number of significant alterations to the building including the installation of a Palladian façade and new staircase. The work was carried out by Joseph Pickford.
In 1793 the dwelling became occupied by the painter Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797). Wright was an important painter of the English Enlightenment era and during his time at 27 Queen Street he reworked his piece ‘The Alchymist’ and painted his final series of landscapes. Wright died at the house in 1797.
In 1867 the building was acquired by John Smith (1813-1886) who had been an apprentice of John Whitehurst III. Smith erected a clock manufactory in the garden of 27 Queen Street which continued production until 1999.
The building was altered in the early C20, firstly with the demolition of the south side of the building to enable greater access to the clock manufactory to the rear and then again between 1928-1929, in order to facilitate the widening of the street. As part of the road widening works, the rooms facing onto the road were demolished and the building was re-fronted. This work was carried out to the designs of Charles H Aslin (1893-1959) Borough Architect, who incorporated Pickford's C18 stone modillion cornice. Re-used early-C17 oak panelling was inserted into the building as part of these alterations. During the early C20 there was also demolition to the rear (west) of the building with the footprint reduced after the Ordnance Survey map of 1914. The detached former clock manufactory to the west of the former dwelling was demolished during the first years of the C21, after Smith of Derby vacated the site.
Details
Late-C17 dwelling, altered in the C18 and C19, re-fronted and further altered in the C20.
MATERIALS: constructed of brick with stone dressings under a slate roof, windows are timber sashes.
PLAN: the building is L-shaped with the principal elevation facing east onto Queen Street.
EXTERIOR: the building is Queen Anne in style, with the main range facing east over two storeys with a hipped slate roof. The principal façade is formed of five bays, with an entrance in both the first and fifth bay. The entrances are under semi-circular arches and have rendered surrounds. The southern entrance has a wrought iron gate. Between the entrances are three window openings which are currently (2024) boarded up. Between the ground and first floor is an C18 stone modillion cornice. At first floor level there is a window opening within each of the bays, with the exception of the central bay, where the opening has been infilled with brick. This is now the location of a projecting turret clock, set at right angles to the building and supported by a bracket. The clock dates to the building’s former use as a clock manufactory, with: ‘JOHN SMITH & SONS/ CLOCK MAKERS’ displayed above the clock faces. Within every other bay on the first floor there is a timber six-over-nine sash window under a flat, rubbed brick arch. There is a further modillion cornice beneath the eaves, with the cornice forming a semi-circular broken pediment at the centre of the elevation to account for the projecting turret clock.
The north elevation of the building is in two sections: a solid two-storey part under the hipped roof to the front (east), and a taller, three-storey section to the rear (west) end. This taller rear section has two window openings with C20 casements at second floor level, and is solid and rendered below.
The south elevation of the building is blind without any openings.
INTERIOR: the interior of the building has been remodelled during the early C20 and appears to contain re-used fittings and features from earlier phases of the building’s history. This includes a C17 panelled room to the rear of the building, a newel post staircase and a marble fireplace. Further oak panelling, of uncertain date, survives in the building’s entrance hall. Some of the C17 timber roof structure appears to survive at the north west end of the building.
