Corder House and Sydenham House are two, adjacent, Grade II listed buildings on Fawcett Street, in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Designed by Frank Caws

Frank Caws

Francis Edward "Frank" Caws was a British architect.Caws was born at Seaview, Isle of Wight, the son of Silas Harvey Caws and his wife, Emma Matilda .. Caws later moved to and settled in Sunderland, via London...

 in the Neo-Moorish style, they were constructed in brick from 1889–1891 by David and John Rankin with terracotta features by J. C. Edwards of Ruabon

Ruabon

Ruabon is a village and community in the county borough of Wrexham in Wales.More than 80% of the population of 2,400 were born in Wales with 13.6% speaking Welsh....

.

Corder House

Corder House was constructed for a local drapery company, Corder's, owned by Alexander Corder. It is four storeys high, including the attic. The building has a ground floor panelled fascia

Fascia (architecture)

Fascia is a term used in architecture to refer to a frieze or band running horizontally and situated vertically under the roof edge or which forms the outer surface of a cornice and is visible to an outside observer...

 and a cusped arcaded

Arcade (architecture)

An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....

 frieze

Frieze

thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...

 with roll-moulded coping

Coping (architecture)

Coping , consists of the capping or covering of a wall.A splayed or wedge coping slopes in a single direction; a saddle coping slopes to either side of a central high point....

. The projecting canted

Cant (architecture)

Cant is the architectural term describing part, or segment, of a facade which is at an angle to another part of the same facade. The angle breaking the facade is less than a right angle thus enabling a canted facade to be viewed as, and remain, one composition.Canted facades are a typical of, but...

 bay

Bay (architecture)

A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...

s on the arcaded first floor are flanked by narrow lights with Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 capitals

Capital (architecture)

In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...

 to the pilaster

Pilaster

A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....

s and the elaborate heads over the central lights of the canted bays; all are with paired, mullion

Mullion

A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...

ed cusped overlights and a dripstring. The second-floor central balustraded balcony

Balcony

Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...

 has panels with Gothic letters; the curvilinear windows with paired arcaded top lights have shallow canted centres under the balustraded attic balconies. The elliptical-headed cusped attic arches to the recessed windows are flanked by scrolls and pilasters which rise to high shaped gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

s with terracotta patterns, central oval lights, and raised segmental pediment

Pediment

A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...

s. The dates 1856 and 1890 are in the outer panels at the eaves

Eaves

The eaves of a roof are its lower edges. They usually project beyond the walls of the building to carry rain water away.-Etymology:"Eaves" is derived from Old English and is both the singular and plural form of the word.- Function :...

 level. The steeply pitched roof has a central lantern with Gothic lights and a high, conical roof.

Sydenham House

Sydenham House is four storeys high, including the attic. It has a moulded ground floor fascia and frieze below a full-width balcony with a stone balustrade. The first floor windows, tripartite in the centre and paired in the outer bays, have upper glazing bars in curvilinear heads below the swag

Festoon

Festoon , a wreath or garland, and so in architecture a conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons, either from a decorated knot, or held in the mouths of lions, or suspended across the back of bulls heads as...

s and the second floor balcony which projects in the centre over panelled pilasters defining the first floor central bay. The square-headed second floor lights have raised arches with pendant

Pendant

A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, when the ensemble may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. In modern French "pendant" is the gerund form of “hanging”...

s, the central bay is defined by plain pilasters with scrolled pediment heads under a panelled band and outer scrolled pediments. The central attic gable has a raised segmental pediment over an eclectic tracery

Tracery

In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...

of a wide arched light containing smaller cusped lights. Its steeply pitched roof has an end chimney.

Sources