Rhodesia House

Rhodesia House, located at 52 Princess Street in Manchester, is a building constructed around 1880-1890. It features red brick with sandstone dressings and a slate roof, set on a trapeziform plan on an island site. The building is designed in an eclectic style and stands four storeys tall, with basements and attics. It has three bays with chamfered corners and a symmetrical facade. Notable architectural details include a punch-dressed stone plinth, a string-course and cornice above the ground floor, and pairs of string-courses between the floors. The moulded main cornice is topped with a brick parapet, and the attic features two large pedimented gables beneath a steeply-pitched hipped roof with corner finials.

The ground floor is distinguished by a round-headed doorway flanked by brick pilasters with carved capitals and a moulded stone head adorned with carved enrichments, including a keystone and swags. This doorway is flanked by coupled round-headed windows, which have hoodmoulds and keystones. The upper floors contain coupled sashed windows in the center and tiered segmental bay windows of stone in the outer bays, featuring curved three-light sashes and panels decorated with swags between floors. The attic dormers are designed with pilasters, three-light windows, and triangular pediments with stone surrounds, accompanied by short square chimneys. The corners of the building have round-headed windows on the ground floor and square-headed windows above.

The nine-bay return wall maintains a similar style, including one bay with segmental bay windows and a pedimented gable, as well as coupled loading bay doorways. The building is part of an uninterrupted linear group of similar structures along this side of Princess Street. The interior has not been inspected.