Former Police Headquarters and Central Fire Station

This former combined police and fire station was built between 1938 and 1940 to designs by R M Finch OBE, Nottingham City Engineer, assisted by Alexander Steele. The building underwent extensions and alterations during the mid-to-late 20th century.

Construction and Materials

The main building employs a steel frame with hollow tile floors and concrete-cased steelwork. External walls facing the street are clad in Stancliffe stone with brick backing. The appliance bay door surrounds are finished in Kenmay granite. Elevations facing the inner courtyard are built in yellow-grey brick with contrasting brown brick bands at ground floor level. Windows throughout are steel-framed units set within timber frames. Internal staircases feature reconstructed marble and terrazzo finishes.

Layout

The building has a roughly U-shaped plan with frontages onto Shakespeare Street to the north, North Church Street to the east, and South Sherwood Street to the west. A courtyard lies to the south. The north range contains the central appliance bays at ground floor level with the former function room above. The principal entrance and main staircase to the former fire station offices, located in the west range, occupy the north-west corner. The north-east corner houses the entrance, main staircase and lift serving the police offices in the east range. Long corridors run the length of the east and west ranges, providing access to offices on either side.

External Appearance

The three perpendicular ranges are designed in a simplified classical Art Deco style. The north and west elevations rise three storeys above a basement, whilst the east side stands four storeys high, increasing to five storeys at the south end of this range.

The two principal entrances are set within canted bays at the north-west and north-east corners. The north-west tower projects above the building's general height, with fielded panels to the parapet. The east entrance, leading to the police department, is approached via semi-circular steps, whilst the west entrance opens at street level. Both doorways feature multi-panelled timber double doors within carved timber surrounds decorated with animal and flower motifs. Above each doorway sits a rectangular fanlight and circular light recesses. The doorways are flanked by chamfered stone columns with engraved capitals and three-paned slit windows to either side. Above each doorway are three tiers of slit windows separated by slender pilasters. Each entrance is crowned with a relief sculpture: a fireman above the north-west entrance and a policeman above the north-east.

The north elevation features a central block containing seven appliance bays within a projecting ground-floor entryway. The bays are divided by square granite columns with carved horizontal striped capitals. The half-glazed appliance doors are modern replacements. Above are seven windows with eight horizontal panes and margin lights. The third-floor windows follow the same style but with horizontal emphasis, positioned above a continuous sill and beneath a shallow canopy. The flanking bays contain slit windows above square entrance openings with roller shutters.

The west elevation spans 14 bays whilst the east has 13 bays, set over three and four storeys respectively. All windows feature six horizontal panes with margin lights and surrounds outlined in relief—a style repeated throughout the building. Shallow moderne-style stone canopies appear above second-floor windows in groups of three on both elevations: one group on the west side and two on the east. The east elevation has a single central doorway at ground floor level with a plain projecting rectangular surround. The entrance door on the west elevation, within the southernmost bay, features a projecting door frame with rounded corners, fluted on the inside, containing a pair of timber single-panelled doors with recessed central knobs.

At the south end of the west elevation, three adjoining bays rise five storeys and project slightly forward of the building line. The ground floor of this section is rusticated and features a projecting door surround with plain cornice (now infilled with a window) flanked by two windows on either side. The first and second floors each have three windows. The central second-floor window features a pediment supported on corbels with a stone trough beneath. The third and fourth floors each have three wider windows with continuous sills, and a shallow canopy to the third floor.

A low stone wall with square profile and subtle relief band runs along the east and west perimeter of the building, curving to meet the building at its entrances. A modern ramp has been inserted on the west side.

Courtyard Elevations

Within the courtyard, the south side of the appliance bays retains the original folding timber doors. Above is a moderne-style first-floor balcony with moulded edges and decorative steel railings and brackets. This provides a coffered canopy supported on concrete ribs between the appliance bays. Between the ground and second floors, at either end of the balcony, are two canted brick piers marking the location of the fireman's pole chutes. These are surmounted by steel railings and serve as balconies for the windows above. Between them are seven full-height windows, with seven horizontal windows to the floor above.

The north four bays of the western courtyard elevation step down to two storeys, with the remaining bays featuring large square windows to each floor. A modern glazed walkway runs along the ground floor. At either end of the east courtyard elevation are elongated windows to secondary stairwells composed of glass blocks; the northernmost is divided into two long windows with a central wedge-shaped column. The east elevation has four floors of windows, with horizontal windows to the second floor.

Interior

The principal entrances to both the police and fire stations feature staircases with decorative balustrades incorporating spiral-patterned steelwork and moulded timber handrails. The stairs and landings have terrazzo floors and slabbed walls with carved stepped skirting and fluted stone pilasters. Gaps on the landing mark where stone piers formerly supported carved lion statues. Doorways and lift shafts leading from the lobby have carved stone surrounds and glazed doors with ornamental metalwork grills. Some modern glazed partitioning and later fire doors have been introduced. Secondary staircases feature solid balustrades with stylised detailing. Throughout the building are service recesses, radiator ledges, stylised radiator covers, and moulded architraves, skirting and cornicing.

Fire Station

The entrance lobby features a revolving half-glazed timber door with inlay detail to the surrounds. The interior of the appliance bays has an inlaid terrazzo floor and square ceiling panels. The folding timber appliance doors to the courtyard side retain their original ironmongery.

The former function room above is fully panelled in Australian walnut on the north and south walls. Later partitions have been introduced to this room and the stage has been removed. The scalloped canopy to the stage and ceiling grills with decorative curled metalwork survive above the inserted suspended ceiling. Likewise, Art Deco plasterwork is present to the ceiling of the adjacent room.

Former accommodation areas in the west block feature classical moulded architraves, built-in storage, a Ure back-to-back cooker and grate, and ceramic-tiled bathroom.

Police Station

The former Chief Constable's room and adjacent conference room are panelled to full height with Indian laurel featuring contrasting inlaid bands to walls and doors. The principal room retains stylised radiator covers, inlaid sliding doors and plaster ceiling moulding. It formerly featured a moulded Art Deco fireplace which was vandalised in winter 2022-2023. Other offices on this floor are half-panelled. The corridors feature pilasters with simple capitals and ceiling moulding. Some offices have architrave detailing to doorways and top lights.

The staircase to the south end of the east range is half-panelled with moulded terrazzo, with a metal balustrade and square-tiled pilasters with ceramic capitals. The main reception and waiting room to the police station feature modern fixtures and finishes.