Great Western Coffee Shop

A local non-railway enquiry reminded me of something that has intrigued me for many years.

"Off the Rails" published by SAVE Britain's Heritage in 1977 has a list of railway listed buildings. Under Western Region it lists 173 Kings Road, Reading. Listing details at:
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1155954 (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1155954)

Any idea what its railway use was, if any?

A wild guess.....

I am aware that there are two buildings in Castle Street (Nos 47 and 49) faced in Bath Stone, reputed (or rumored) to be sourced when the Box Tunnel was excavated. Did GWR do a bit of speculative development in Reading using a little more surplus stone it had on its hands at about the same time?

All I have been able to find out is that they were probably designed Henry Briant, who also designed the Royal Berkshire Hospital, and the big houses in Eldon Square and Road. There used to be a story that he over ordered the stone for RBH and built the big houses. If so, similar thinking to your theory on GWR.

Query re-arose for me because somebody asked me did I know about a tunnel from RBH to Kings Road? After a  bit of investigation I suggested that they would need to know the order of building in the area. Unlikely to have been dug under existing terrace housing. IF there was a tunnel it would almost certainly have been cut and cover before the terrace housing was built. Why they would have wanted or constructed one would have been an even bigger mystery.

IIRC there was no railway link from Box to Reading until around the time the tunnel actually opened, so I don't think it could have been from the construction.  A quarry was opened there shortly afterwards though. 

If there was a railway from Box to Chippenham it could have ben transported that far and then transferred to the Wilts & Berks Canal, then onward via Lechlade and the Thames, or via Semington and the Kennet & Avon. Alternatively it could have gone overland (and downhill) to Bathampton and picked up the canal network there.

Not even a wild guess - just a thought!

The Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal published by Reading Borough Council which can be found on RBC's web site https://www.reading.gov.uk/media/8388/Eldon-Square-Full/pdf/Eldon_Square_Full.pdf (https://www.reading.gov.uk/media/8388/Eldon-Square-Full/pdf/Eldon_Square_Full.pdf) has this to say:

These houses were originally part of the area known as Waterloo Place which would suggest that they were built in the years immediately after 1815. This tallies with the opening of the Kennet and Avon canal right through from London to Bristol in 1810 - the buildings are only some hundred yards from the bank of the canal which would make shifting the stone over such a short distance quite feasible.

I still can't see any definite railway connection, the only thing I can think of which might have a connection was the MP for Reading, Charles Russell (1786-1856) was also Chairman of the Great Western Railway between 1837 and 1855. Could he have had some interest in the building?

British Listed Buildings (https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101155954-173-183-kings-road-abbey-ward)

Which doesn't help answer the original query.

The Great Western Railway company took ownership of the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1861

I can find out how it was used - from 1901-1939, 173 was occupied by John Bowen, Borough Engineer & Surveyor (though by 1939 he was over 90 and claimed to be a "consulting Borough Engineer").
In the 1960 it was an NHS office, and then offices of various kinds.
From 1871-1891 a school, containing an improbable number of teenage girls, occupied 173-179 (or Wilton House and Malvern House).

That far back the number seems to be the same - but in 1861 and before, the numbering of Kings Road is entirely different, with various bits called Place or Terrace. Waterloo Place is part of Wellington Place, and has only two addresses - one of which is occupied by a certain George Palmer "biscuit manufacturer, employing 272 men, 226 boys and 15 women". How that fits with this row of three pairs of semis is not clear.

If this was in Scotland I could tell you in detail who owned it from 1855 through to 1940 - but it's not so I can't; it would take a visit to the Berkshire Record Office.