Description

NZ 26 NE COAST ROAD
(north side)

9/809 Wills' Tobacco Factory
17/11/86

II

Factory. Mid 1940s to an earlier design. Red brick and Portland stone; roof flat
and hidden by parapets. Dignified Art Deco style.
Main south front 3 storeys, 23 bays in all. Projecting 3-bay centre, 2-bay each end
and 8-bay intermediate sections. Central balustraded perron from which a wide flight
of steps rises to terrace in front of door. At either side quadrant retaining walls
hold shrubberies. All these are ashlar with banded copings; panelled piers to
perron. Central glazed (double) door in a fully-glazed section framed by stout
round piers which support a banded flat hood with quadrant angles. Side lights
outside the piers; the whole entrance in a porch, with fluted top band and quadrant
corners, projecting from the tall central tower which has a fluted frieze and a top
slipped back in 3 stages, the middle one fluted the lower one with WDE H O WILLS in
sans-serif letters. Centre section of tower recessed, with tall, 4-light,
horizontal paned window under egg-and-dart carved lintel with acanthus keystone.
Above this a clock, stopped at noon. Ashlar tower and porch flanked by lower
brick staircase towers with long two-light similar window and matching top treatment
though with only one step back. Penultimate bays are lower, blank ashlar towers
which hae shallow tall recessed panels with bands of fluting at heads. Intermediate
sections have 3 tiers of 4-light metal-framed windows, held by ashlar piers set back
in 2 places at sides, those on ground floor higher. Above, between and below the
bands of windows are bands of uninterrupted brickwork with stone edging strips.
Set-back outer bays are similar but with 2-light windows. 17-bay returns are
exactly similar but without a central section; and the outer towers have doors
under flat hoods and long stair windows above. Attached to the brickwork in places
are names of products, which can be lit up at night: probably later in date.
Half-glazed porch addition on left return is not of special interest.

Listing NGR: NZ2811066918

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wills Building at Wikipedia
• Wikidata IDs Q26409414 Q8022467

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)