Alexandra House

This bootlace warehouse was designed and built between 1895 and 1898 by Edward Burgess for Sir Samuel Faire. It suffered damage from bombing around 1941 and was cleaned in 1990. The building has a steel frame with a buff-coloured granite plinth. The Rutland Street elevation features nine windows, while the Southampton Street elevation has six. The ground floor has plain two-light windows. The first and second floor windows are divided by tapered square pilasters supporting an entablature featuring a frieze of shell coves and small figures supporting console brackets. An ornate balustraded balcony fronts the round arched third floor windows, which are flanked by shafts rising to pinnacles above the parapet. The first and second floor windows are two-light with fluted and panelled pilasters.

The end bays project slightly, topped with pediments and finials. The rounded corner is flanked by wide, flat pilasters surmounted by corbelled octagonal turrets with short spires. These turrets frame the circular drum of a former dome. The ground floor corner features a round-arched entrance with semi-octagonal pilasters, a two-light window with a shell tympanum flanked by torch finials on the first floor, and a three-light window with an ornate frieze and balustraded balcony on the second floor, leading to a round-arched third floor window and elaborately pierced parapet above.

The interior features a hexagonal entrance lobby with a domed vault decorated with blue and gold tiles. Two staircases have wooden turned balusters. Offices remain on the lower three floors, some with wooden panelling. Smaller offices for high-grade staff include elaborate panelling, fireplaces, and, in some cases, Jacobean style plaster ceilings. Larger staff offices have plainer painted panelling and etched glass.