Former Police And Ambulance Station

The building is a former police and ambulance station, dating from the mid to later 19th century, and altered subsequently. Constructed of red brick with sandstone ashlar detailing, it has hipped slate roofs. The rectangular plan incorporates an office and domestic block on the west side, a cell range to the south, a fire engine garage on the east side, all enclosed within a curtain wall. The building is one, two and four storeys high, with basements.

The curtain wall has a sandstone ashlar plinth, rusticated quoins to the angles, a plain cornice, and a parapet. The west-facing entrance front is dominated by the gable end of the four-storey main block, which features a classical-style ashlar facade. The ground floor is pilastered and panelled, with a cornice, and a giant arcade of round-headed blank arches on the upper floors. These arches have plain pilasters, moulded imposts, moulded heads with volute keystones, and a frieze bearing the raised lettering “POLICE STATION B DIVISION”. A prominent modilloned cornice tops the facade, followed by a balustraded parapet with a carved shield of Arms (depicting a lion and unicorn) set within a segmental pediment. To the left is a rebuilt section of the curtain wall with a wagon doorway supported by square cast-iron pillars. To the right of the main block, the curtain wall is blank, and a tall rectangular chimney with panelled sides and a stone cornice with brackets rises above it. A return wall on the right side includes two small and two large doorways, all apparently inserted. The east side accommodates a colonnade of 13 garage doorways with square, panelled cast-iron columns and wooden lintels.

Internally, many original features remain, including offices with domestic quarters above, and prison cells with plain wooden bunks. The station is representative of the growth of administrative institutions in a large city and its strikingly defensive design offers an interesting comparison with the later Police and Fire Station on London Road.