City Buildings

City Buildings is a former warehouse, shops, and offices, now serving as shops, a restaurant, and mixed-use spaces on the upper floors. It was built between 1865 and 1875 and features a prominent corner location. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar with red brick on the rear and side elevations, topped with a Welsh slate roof. It is arranged around a small internal courtyard with vehicle access from Todd Street and stands four storeys tall.

The ground floor retains original stone pilasters with foliated capitals between shop divisions and several cast-iron barley-sugar mullions. There is a vehicular entrance with original iron double gates and a double doorway to Corporation Street, which has a stone name panel above that reads "CITY BUILDINGS." The upper floors feature regular fenestration with 2-pane plate-glass sash windows throughout. The design includes varied window arches: round-headed on the third floor, segmental on the second, and square-headed with bracketed cornices on the first. There are paired windows above the entrances, a plat band, and a cornice.

The corner of the building is more elaborately designed, framed by sunken quadrant angles set between rusticated quoins, with round-headed paired windows on all floors. A stone balcony supported by scrolled brackets and decorative iron railings is located on the second floor, along with another stone name panel. The entire structure is topped with a stone finial in the form of an oculus, and above this, the roof terminates in a fish-scale slate spirelet with a cast-iron finial.

City Buildings holds significant townscape value, occupying an important site in this part of the city and grouping well with other listed buildings, including Victoria Station. Its design is enhanced by varied detailing that remains remarkably intact.