Britannia Buildings

Britannia Buildings

A grand palazzo-style former warehouse, showroom and offices completed around 1858 to designs by local architect William Cocking. The building was substantially altered in the 1920s by Clifford Hickson for the Huddersfield Building Society and is now in residential and commercial use. It is constructed of ashlar sandstone with slate roof coverings.

The building occupies a prominent position overlooking St George's Square on a rectangular island site bounded to the north east by John William Street, to the south east by St Peter's Street and to the south west by Station Street. It comprises three storeys plus basement, with quoined corners (those to the ground and first floors are vermiculated) and a hipped slate roof.

The St George's Square elevation is the most prominent, consisting of 13 bays with a central neoclassical entrance flanked by three large plate-glass windows to each side, all installed in the 1920s. The entrance comprises six steps leading up to a pair of timber eight-panelled doors set within a richly carved and moulded doorcase adorned with a variety of classical and Egyptian motifs, including fasces combined with rosettes and Greek key decoration. The doorcase entablature incorporates an Egyptian winged sun-disk in relief, with a modillioned cornice incorporating four lion heads and topped by anthemion set upon a low pediment. The ground-floor windows have bronze mullions and transoms and are separated by enriched pilasters with raised panels and stylised Ionic capitals that support an entablature with modillioned cornice running across the elevation.

The first floor features two-over-two sash windows with sills supported on four scrolled brackets, between which are sunken panels and carved rosettes. The windows have moulded surrounds and Tuscan half-pilasters, full entablatures and triangular modillioned pediments. The central bay contains a Venetian window in a surround of Tuscan pilasters and entablature, breaking forward around the central light which also has quarter columns, a moulded frame and a segmental head. Above are sunken panels arranged radially beneath a segmental pediment, which in turn supports the apron of the window above.

An acanthus-decorated cornice separates the first and second floors, acting as a continuous sill for the second-floor windows. These windows contain two-over-two sashes and have moulded surrounds, segmental heads and keystones with sunken panels between them. The panels flanking the central window have elaborately carved flowers and scroll-shaped brackets. Above is a deeply moulded eaves cornice with scrolled brackets, between which are paterae and festoons. Above this rises a balustrade with moulded rail, vase-shaped balusters and panelled piers with elaborate gadrooned urns. At the centre, the parapet is segment-shaped and bears the Royal Arms sculpted in high relief, topped by a large sculpture of Britannia.

The John William Street elevation, comprising seven bays, provides the best idea of the architect's original design and is the most elaborate, facing onto what was the principal highway through the New Town. It has a rusticated plinth with recesses below the windows, vermiculated quoins on the ground and first floors, and chamfered quoins on the second. The ground-floor windows are round-headed with vermiculated quoined jambs and voussoirs. The keystones feature boldly sculpted masks of classical deities, with a further mask on the St Peter's Street and Station Street returns. Panels containing sculpted floral ornament appear below each window sill. The central bay breaks forward with Tuscan pilasters featuring alternately vermiculated courses, an entablature and modillioned cornices framing two parts. The lower part is a doorway filled in by a display case in the 1920s, with a segmental head, bolection moulding, keystone and modillioned cornice. The upper part is a round-headed sash window set within a concave recess with rusticated voussoirs and quoins, and a sculpted mask on the keystone. The floors above are similarly styled to those of the St George's elevation but without the central Venetian window, replaced by a single window with segmental pediment.

The remaining elevations are simplified versions of the St George's Square and John William Street elevations. However, the end bays break forward to create a pavilion composition on the corner of both. The St Peter's Street elevation features a central entrance that breaks forward in the style of a shallow enclosed porch with three steps up to recessed partly-glazed double doors incorporating integral margin lights. The doorcase has a raised moulded surround set within a concave recess, above which is an enriched pulvinated frieze and a further Greek-key frieze. Above is a Diocletian fanlight with leaded glazing also within a segmental-headed concave recess with moulded surround and scrolled keystone. Topping the porch is a cornice with four lion heads similar to the north elevation entrance. Bay three contains a further entrance door with paired panelled doors and a glazed overlight, whilst bay 13 contains an inserted modern door. The Station Street elevation features an inserted modern door within bay seven and all ground-floor windows contain casements.

The street names 'John William Street', 'St Peter's Street' and 'Station Street' are carved on their respective elevations.

The interior is understood to retain elements of the 1920s decorative banking hall.