No. 28 Palace Street, Canterbury, Kent (A 17th century town house)

This building, formerly known as the King's School shop, is a fine example of a seventeenth century timber-framed town house. The building, which leans to one side at an alarming angle, is much photographed by the many tourists who pass through Canterbury. The property is three and a half stories high with double-jetties towards Palace Street and King's Street.

Numerous decorative features have been used to enhance the appearance of the building. Carved brackets lie beneath the jetties; two particularly fine figures adorn the dragon posts on the ground and first floors. The gable is finished with moulded bargeboards and a carved finial, which on close examination appears to be dated 1647. Oriel windows flanked by clerestory lights once occupied all the window openings of the building; however these have since been replaced. Relief plasterwork, formed to give the impression of stone blocks, still survives in many of the panels between the timbers.

A lobby entered through a door in the King's Street elevation affords access to the interior of the building. A winding newel staircase (built against the chimney stack) leads from this lobby to the upper floors and garret. A contemporary brick lined cellar lies beneath the building. A second entrance was probably inserted into the Palace Street frontage at a later date.

The distinctive lean of the building probably started in the nineteenth century when a doorway was inserted through one side of the central chimney stack. This destabilized the stack which gradually tipped over pushing the timber frame with it. This movement reached a critical point during the nineteen eighties when a concerted effort was made to stabilise the structure which would otherwise have collapsed. A survey of the building detailing the failures and movements in the frame was prepared by the Trust prior to structural works.

Detailed drawings of the unstable chimney stack were also prepared to aid its repair however it collapsed rather dangerously a few days later whilst workmen were inside the building (all the bricks ending up in the cellar). Fortunately no one was hurt and the drawings were used to build a facsimile of the structure reusing as many of the original bricks as possible. Despite the rebuilt stack and other alterations No. 28 Palace Street largely retains its original form and character and is one of the best examples of its type in Canterbury.

More information can be found in CAT's Annual Reports 1987–88, 1990–91

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