Description

790/0/10113 QUEEN ANNE'S PLACE
15-JAN-08 2

II

Estate Office, then bank, now nursery; 1905-1906 with late C20 interior conversion; possibly by Frank Bethell.

Red brick with stone dressings and slate roof.

EXTERIOR: No. 2 Queen Anne's Place occupies a corner position and takes advantage of the site with elevations to both streets and a prominent round tower with a copper-domed cupola. This has classical detailing: the mullions of a three-light window at ground floor level are articulated with three-quarter Doric columns; and the drum of the cupola has a Doric colonnade. The treatment of the corner site lends the building its landmark quality and identifies its original commercial function. The two principal elevations are more domestic, having Queen Anne-style sash windows at first floor level, a prominent dentil cornice, dormer windows with segmental pediments in the steeply-pitched roof, and tall brick chimneys. These too have classical details: that to Queen Anne's Place has an impressive stone Ionic portico complete with curved pediment containing carved cartouche, ribbons and swags, dentil cornice and convex entablature; a secondary entrance is on Dryden Road and has pilasters and a segmental pediment above which is an oculus containing stained glass. The ground floor windows have been replaced with metal casements. The elevations to the rear are functional.

INTERIOR: features of note relating to the building's use as either an estate office or a bank have been removed. Remaining historic features include the staircase with handsome newel posts in an 'egg-and-dart' inspired design where the ball finial is set into the post, the original main door, and fragments of cornice in an upper room. Ground floor plan appears to survive well.

HISTORY: No. 2 Queen Anne's Place was built as the Bush Hill Park Estate Office and offices for Frank Bethell, an architect, surveyor and house, land and estate agent. It is likely that Bethell was the architect of 2 Queen Anne's Place. The building served potential purchasers of houses on the Bush Hill Park Estate, which had been laid out in the 1880s and experienced a second phase of development in the Edwardian period. Ideally located just opposite the train station (which stimulated the initial development after 1870), the building was a showcase for the architectural quality of the estate, some buildings of which are also likely to be by Bethell.

In 1911-12 the building was converted into a bank. Presumably, Bethell had by then sold all the houses on the estate and was able to close the office. The building has no identifying date-stones or inscriptions, unusually for an Edwardian public or landmark commercial building, which suggests that Bethell intended to sell it on when he had completed his speculative development of the Estate. London and Provincial Bank occupied the building until 1913 when they were taken over by Barclays who continued trading from there until the 1990s when the building was converted to a nursery.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
No. 2 Queen Anne's Place has been designated for the following principal reasons:
* it is of special architectural interest for its design which is notably intact;
* the building has landmark qualities in the composition with its prominent corner tower and attractive facades on two elevations which take advantage of the corner site;
* the detailing is of a high standard, the brickwork and dressed stone particularly good;
* the proportions and thoughtful arrangement of features in an exotic composition, which combines classical details with Queen-Anne style domestic elevations, evidences the skill of the architect;
* the building is also of historic interest for its brief period as an Estate Office from where prospective buyers could arrange viewing of suburban houses or plots on the Bush Hill Park Estate, which is now a conservation area.

Reasons for Listing

* it is of special architectural interest for its handsome design which is notably intact;
* the building has landmark qualities in the composition with its prominent corner tower and attractive facades on two elevations which take advantage of the corner site;
* the detailing is of a high standard, the brickwork and dressed stone particularly good;
* the proportions and thoughtful arrangement of features in an imaginative composition, which combines classical details with Queen-Anne style domestic elevations, evidences the skill of the architect;
* the building is also of historic interest for its brief period as an Estate Office from where prospective buyers could arrange viewing of suburban houses or plots on the Bush Hill Park Estate, which is now a conservation area.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27087174

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

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)