A programme of Historic England Level 3 (analytical) historic building recording was undertaken by Colchester Archaeological Trust in 2017 prior to alteration and following a soft strip (CBC planning application 161296).<1> The recording indicates that No. 5 St Nicholas Street (Building A in the report) was the earliest, probably built in the late 15th century (an accurate date is difficult). The report suggests it might have been a single room open hall in its original form. There was evidence for an unglazed opening in the form of diamond mullions. The smoke-blackened rafters could be original but they could have been re-used from an earlier medieval building, because there are multiple mismatching carpenters marks. No. 6 St Nicholas Street (Building B), to the south, was built off the earlier frame, in the late 16th or (more probably) early 17th century. The brick cellar in 6 St Nicholas Street is presumably original to the structure; the stairway of the cellar leads into 5 St Nicholas Street, which suggests the two buildings were a single property (at least, when 6 St Nicholas Street was built). Both buildings have been considerably altered, and little survives on the ground floor. The cellar was infilled in th efirst half of the 20th century (prior to 1935). Other buildings recorded included a late Victorian extension, with a third-floor added in the early 20th century, and the remains of a late 16th-century brick extension.