Iam sorry to be an anorak but
I couldn't help noticing the building design and construcion. Its quite interesting.
I'm not sure if you have a date ? I would have put it around the turn of the century anywhere between 1895 and 1910 . (Could be a bit out as this is likely to be in a provincial town and fashions in everything tended to be years behind London, Paris etc. ) The post box could easily have been added at a later date so would normally be an unreliable indicator of the buildings age however I am pretty sure that in this instance it is contempoary
It might be worth checking with the Bath costume museum see if they could suggest a date
Note the telephone wires to the top corner ! Even shops in provinincial towns could afford the new telephones
The building at first appearance seems to be well constructed if a little grandiose. Witness the stone plinth and lintols , the nicely stepped brick pediment at first floor level particularly the rubbed brick pillar at the entrance. This would have involved some pretty careful and lengthly labour rubbing the bricks to achieve the rounded appearance of a column.
The entrance is rather a neat design . not only unusual and attractive but very practical as it offers a fairly large covered porch to offer protection for both the entrance and customers from the weather.
Now cast your eyes up to the first floor and its an entirely differant story.
The walls are rather incongruously pebble dashed..this is to offer some weather protection but more importantly allows the use of a much cheaper inferior brick.
The detailing above the first floor level is simple and severe to the extreme. This was clearly a cost cutting exercise. Probably because the special detailing below and costly interior fittments and fittings had severly dented the budget .!
The barge boards are the plainest I've ever seen on a building of this age and completly at odds with the lavish embellishments below. Normally these would have been carefully shaped and pierced with a finishing finial and a chance for the carpenter to show off his skills. They should be the `icing on the cake' instead of which they are simple plain board.
To the side of the property the fascia boards are completly missing !? (under the gutter) here the rafter `feet' are on show,unprotected and exposed to the elements.. This is a real no no in building terms and either an oversight or severe cost cutting exercise as even a layperson can see something is missing.
The brick detailing on the chimney nicely echoes the detailing below but everything else about this roof including the double pitch construction with central gutter shouts cheap cost cutting.
The woodwork and paintwork is in excellent condition and there is very little water staining or soot blacking on the light stonework particulary at ground level so I would say this building is probably less than 10 years old possibly as little as 2-3 when the photo was taken.
I would have thought it more likely that the dress wareroom should be dressware room
