Albany Buildings And Verandah Attached To Numbers 339-343

This is a block of shops with offices above, constructed in 1882 and subsequently altered. It was designed by E.W. Johnson and is built of red brick in stretcher bond, with sandstone dressings, red tiles, applied half-timbering, and slate roofs. The architectural style is eclectic, incorporating both Gothic and Neo-Tudor elements.

The building has three storeys and attics, with five bays of unequal width. Originally symmetrical, it features two pairs of gabled bays that flank a narrower central section with a ground-floor passage entry and a small, pinnacled balustrade between the inner gables. The ground floor now contains 20th-century shop fronts. The upper floors are pilastered and intricately detailed. At the first floor, the two bays to the left have canted oriels with tiled pentice roofs supported by brackets. The two bays to the right, previously similar, now have 20th-century flush windows set within rendered surrounds painted white. The second floor has three-light windows with elaborate stone surrounds, including pairs of colonettes with variously enriched detailing – those in the outer bays with shouldered heads, and those in the inner bays with Gothic two-centred arches and carved tympani. The attic level features gables on the inner bays, each with pairs of small oculi and sunk panels lettered “ALBANY BUILDINGS.” They also have ridged copings with crockets; the coping on the left is surmounted by a lion displaying a shield, while the one on the right is missing this feature. The outer bays have balconies, the one on the right incorporates a gallery with elaborately-carved woodwork leading to a projected half-timbered gable, and the one on the left has been remodelled with its gable set back.

A verandah attached to numbers 339-343 comprises four slender cast-iron columns with enriched pedestals and small crocket caps, and a single-pitched glass roof. The interior has not been inspected. The building forms a group with numbers 335 and 337 to the left, and numbers 355 and 357 to the right, and the attached verandah is part of a series that defines the character of the street.