1, ALBION STREET (See details for further address information)

A purpose-built commercial building of 1886-7, designed by James Tait of Leicester for Reuben Barrow. It combines warehousing with ground-floor shops, and is now partly converted to a bar and club. The building is constructed in red brick with moulded brick and terracotta ornamental dressings, with interior yard walls faced in white tiles and parapeted slate roofs.

The exterior displays Wrenaissance or Neo-Baroque styling typical of the later 19th century. The building is four storeys high with a cellar and features fine sash windows with glazing bars and blown glass throughout, complemented by elaborate terracotta and brick dressings. Tall giant pilasters rise through the first and second floors, continuing through the attic storey to a parapet surmounted with ornamental pedestals.

The Belvoir Street frontage is symmetrical above the ground floor, with eight 6/9 sashes to the first and second floors, the central six grouped in pairs. Three Diocletian windows are positioned over the pairs on the third floor, with oval windows either side. The ground floor features shop fronts with granite pilasters between them, appearing mainly original to the centre and right (Max premises) with possible original elements retained behind a 20th-century fascia to the left (Young's). To the far right is a double panelled door with overlight within a banded stone and brick doorcase. The curved corner to Albion Street has a single window width with curved windows and a similar character to the main frontage.

The Albion Street front is again symmetrical above the ground floor, with a different rhythm: single window, pair of windows with Diocletian over, single window, then a central tripartite sash with a smaller window in a Diocletian frame over, followed by single, pair, and single windows. The ground floor to the right continues the shop front with granite pilasters, then transitions to a wide carriage gateway with a brick and stone banded arch and smaller pedestrian entrances either side. The gateway retains its original double panelled ornamental gates, and the entrances have double panelled doors within stone doorcases topped by circular windows. The elaborately carved keystones carry the Barrow monogram on the left and the date 1887 on the right. To the left is a wide three-light window and a single window to the far left, as shown in original plans. Cellar windows below have segmental arches.

The interior yard features tall multi-paned metal-framed windows, and the walls are faced with white tiles. The tall chimney was removed many years ago and the fire escapes have been extended, but otherwise the yard remains largely unaltered.

The warehouse interior to the right of the Albion Street gateway and facing Belvoir Street is unaltered, with iron columns supporting boxed beams and matchboarded ceilings. Stairs have balustrades with stick balusters following the original plans. The shop interiors are of 20th-century origin. The interior of No. 1 Albion Street was not inspected but is reported by the owner as much altered, although structural beams remain.

This building represents a comparatively early example of Wrenaissance or Neo-Baroque styling, which became far more prevalent during the Edwardian period. It is a carefully designed and finely detailed essay in the Wrenaissance style, featuring very fine terracotta panels and glazing-bar sashes with elegant astragals and blown glass recalling 18th-century work. The overall design follows that of a Continental city palace, with a grand entrance to Albion Street and shops on the ground floor beneath a piano nobile. Details on the top floor recall the work of Christopher Wren at Hampton Court, while other details reference later Baroque architects. The building forms part of a significant group of historic structures in this area of Leicester. Original plans for the building survive with Sawday Associates, Architects.