Watergate Buildings

Watergate Buildings is a commercial property comprising shops and offices, built in 1830 with a later 19th-century addition of a top storey and the insertion of shops. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar with a Welsh slate roof. It is four storeys high and consists of 14 bays, with projecting end bays and intermediate bays curving around the corner. The ground floor exhibits channelled rustication and features shops with sashes, all set beneath an entablature with a dentilled egg-and-dart cornice. The upper floors have sashes in plain reveals; those on the first floor are tall with upper glazing bars, while the top two floors also have glazing bars. A band runs along the first floor, and a deep entablature and cornice are present on the second floor. The third floor features keyed raised surrounds to each end bay and at intervals in the intermediate bays. Pediments adorn the outer bays under a high, hipped roof. The central section has a low-pitched roof with ashlar chimneys.