Langley Buildings

Langley Buildings is a textiles warehouse, now used as offices, built around 1880-1890 and altered since. It features a cast-iron frame with a sandstone ashlar facade and red brick sides, and has a narrow rectangular plan positioned at right angles to the street, with a chamfered corner. The building exhibits an eclectic architectural style with some Jacobean detailing and stands five storeys tall over a basement.

The facade has three windows plus an additional one at the left corner, with a cornice at the ground floor and sill-bands on all floors. The top floor is capped with a cornice that has a carved upstand at the corner. The ground floor includes a doorway on the right with a two-light overlight in Jacobean style and a cornice above that reads "LANGLEY BUILDINGS." The central section features coupled windows, while a former window on the left has been altered into a doorway. In the splayed corner, there is a square-headed doorway with a moulded surround and a panelled door. Above this doorway, a moulded corbel supports a right-angled two-storey oriel with a shaped parapet, which is topped by a canted three-light window adorned with a parapet featuring strap-work panels and urn finials. The top floor has a two-light window and a parapet inscribed "LANGLEY BUILDINGS."

The main facade is symmetrical, with a recessed central bay nearly filled by a rectangular oriel that has pilasters extending through three floors and is finished with a parapet similar to the others. The flanking areas feature exceptionally narrow sashed windows in the re-entrants. All windows are sashed without glazing bars. The ten-bay return wall is made of brick, featuring semi-octagonal pilasters that end as short pinnacles, and coupled sashed windows. Langley Buildings is part of a continuous row of similar structures along this side of Princess Street, contributing to its group value.