153-154 The Square – United Friendly Societies’ Dispensary (UFSD) building
- Description
The UFSD Building was built by F. Jackson & Sons (at a cost of £5,141) to Arthur Robert Allen’s design. As well as the two main floors, it also has a basement and a second floor meeting room on the roof that was formerly the UFSD boardroom. A large louvred skylight mounted on the roof has been a feature of this building.
About two-thirds of the width of the roof, is a glazed light and air well that reaches down through the first floor to provide light to the ground floor. A smaller skylight provides light for the stairwell. In 1948, fire partly gutted the first floor and the smoke was first noticed coming from the skylight.
The UFS Dispensary’s shop closed around 1998 after about 75 years on the site in this building and also in its predecessor. The building’s above verandah façade remains largely authentic.
Identification
- Object type
- Image
- Relation
- IMCA Digital Archive
- Date
- June 2020
- Digitisation ID
- 2020BD_IMCA-DigitalMaster_031924
- Format
- Born Digital
Taxonomy
- Community Tags