Description

TQ 3281 NE FINSBURY CIRCUS, EC2

No.25 (London Wall
Buildings)

GV II

Office block. 1901. Designed by Gordon and Gunton. Stone. Mansard roofs of slate to end pavilions. Southeast quadrant to Finsbury Circus, with elevations to Circus Place, Blomfield Street and London Wall. The block steps down to London Wall; each elevation varies the elements found the Finsbury Circus elevation which is symmetrical about the entrance. Six storeys and attic with seven-storey pavilions- Twenty-nine window range. All openings are flat arched unless otherwise noted. Round-arched entrance set in two storey porch taking the form of a triumphal arch with applied Ionic columns and spandrels carved and pierced; broken pediment above is rebated; round-arched entrances to either side. All openings in the entrance range are tripartite. Centre ranges and end ranges treated as projecting pavilions. Banded rustication to ground floor; pair of pedimented aedicules to ground floor of end pavilions. All first-floor windows except those in centre ranges are set in aedicules topped by alternating segmental and triangular pediments. Tripartite first- and second-floor windows in end bays are set in shallow segmental bays. All second-floor windows in intermediate ranges with keyed jambs and pediments, those to either side of centre range with segmental pediments. Architraves with keyed jambs to third-floor windows. Fourth and fifth floors articulated by an attached giant colonnade of Composite order: the windows to pavilions are pedimented, the rest flanked by pilasters or columns. The cornice to entablature of the upper colonnade is very richly carved. Segmental pediments to attic windows of end ranges. The centre pavilion topped by a raking cornice to pediment; the end pavilions with banded rustication and rusticated columns, the balustrade interrupted by pedimented dormers. Second entrance to second-window range, number 5 London Wall Buildings. An array of storey and sill bands. Moulded rectangular stacks between eight- and ninth-window ranges. Returns of two windows to Circus Place and East Street repeat elevations of the end pavilion, and step down. Elevation to Blomfield Street of thirteen-window range, bay elevations similar to those in Finsbury Circus with the exception of ranges eight to ten which is treated as a projecting pavilion to form a termination with New Broad Street. Features of note include: balconies to second floor windows in first-, sixth, ninth- and twelfth-window ranges, each of which range is flanked by pairs of attached Ionic columns topped by pediments. Upper floors recessed behind balustrade. Curved corner to London wall of five-window range roofed by metal sheathed dome, pierced by elaborate dormers. London Wall elevation of twenty-three-window range, repeating bay elevation of Blomfield Street, the third floor recessed behind balustrade except for ranges one to three, nine and twenty two which rise to a bay framed by giant Ionic aedicule. Entrances in set under tripartite porches in seventeen to nineteen and twelve to fourteen. Ranges fifteen to seventeen projecting as high pavilion with attached columns. Round-arched entrance under pediment in fifth-window range. Round-arched entrance to banking hall in curved and rebated corner range to Circus Place elevation which is an eleven-window range, stepping up to returns of end pavilions of Finsbury Circus. SOURCE: THE ARCHITECT 1904 P232.

Listing NGR: TQ3292081551

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27086023

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

• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990