Description

KING WILLIAM STREET
TQ 3281 SE
10/331 No 1

II GV

Bank with offices over. 1921-2 by William Campbell-Jones and Alex Smithers for
the London Assurance Co. Portland stone, chanelled at ground floor, ashlar to
upper, facing a steel frame with staircases and vaults in reinforced concrete.
Slated mansard roof with stepped dormers. 5 storeys, attics and semi-basement.
Main facade 5 windows. Classical style on a triangular site. Semi-basement
with large metal framed windows of frosted square panes with margins at edges
and centre a top frieze of small rectangular panes; fronted by cast iron rail-
ings having simplified urn finials. Ground floor openings architraved with
festooned console keystones; recessed metal framed windows with margin glazing.
Plain band at first floor level supporting giant pilasters, with cartouche
capitals, at angles which carry the main entablature with projecting bracketed
cornice at 4th floor level and continued around the building. Smaller first
floor windows giving mezzanine effect, each with balustraded balcony and
separated by pilasters with wreaths terminating with entablature above 2nd floor
windows, each with alternating cornice or pediment on console brackets. 3rd
floor windows architraved, 4th floor attic storey plain; moulded eaves cornice.
Main entrance at right hand angle being 4 storeys running into the building on
an axis canted at an angle to the St Swithins have elevation. Hexagonal ante-
porch with openings on 3 sides having plain surrounds with console brackets
supporting aedicules over; steps within, ceiling with sunken dome; doorway
altered. Left hand angle curved with 3 windows; 2nd floor centre opening, a
round-arched niche enriched with a festoon. At roof level, a pilastered
2-storey rotunda with copper dome resting on enriched copper brackets. The
shape of the site was exploited to create interestingly shaped rooms, in
particular on the 1st and 2nd floor. Planning on an axial line took full
advantage of the pen area on the south. The battered ground floor allowed more
light into the building. No 1 forms a group with Nos 3-7 King William Street
and Nos 1-6 Lombard Street.

Listing NGR: TQ3273480979

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27082402

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.

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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)