Hinckley Former Constitutional Club

Hinckley Former Constitutional Club

The Constitutional Club at Hinckley was designed by W T Orton and completed in 1902, with an extension added in the late 1920s. The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with white Hollington sandstone dressings and wrought iron railings.

The building is L-shaped in plan, with the main range fronting Station Road to the east, and a continuation to the north-west containing the former manager's flat at first floor, which fronts The Horse Fair.

The exterior displays Victorian eclectic style with Queen Anne influences. The roof is hipped with projecting gables to Station Road, covered in slate with crested ridge tiles. The Station Road frontage comprises six bays with shop fronts at ground floor and transomed Arts-and-Crafts-style windows above, all beneath a dentilled cornice. The second bay is distinctive, featuring a shaped gable with a limestone cartouche at its centre carved with foliate relief work bearing the date 1902. A Diocletian window is positioned at the centre of this bay, with a flat-faced transomed window below and simple scroll consoles to two of the upper mullions. On either side of this bay, upper-floor bays are recessed to accommodate two balconies with decorative Art Nouveau railings. These balconies are sheltered by eaves supported by two stone corbels and squat sandstone columns. The balconies contain double doors at their centre for interior access and were originally designed for occasional public speaking, with flanking and upper windows in matching sandstone dressings. To the north, transomed windows continue, and the sixth bay features a further gable with a transomed window beneath a semi-circular-arching stone pediment with central crest, scrolling detail and dentilled cornice. A small square cartouche is positioned above this window.

The ground floor retains original shop frontages to the three southern bays, with wide fascia boards and slender supporting columns. Panelled piers and scroll consoles sit between the bays. To the north, a projecting sandstone entrance bay with Ionic piers and egg-and-dart cornice supports a shaped pediment containing elaborately carved lettering reading "CONSTITUTIONAL CLUB" with scrolling foliate surround. Late-20th-century shop fronts to either side feature similar scrolling consoles and panelled piers. An octagonal cupola stands at the height of the gable apex at the corner of The Horse Fair and Station Road. The façade continues west along The Horse Fair for a further two bays with transomed windows at first floor and shop front below. The building then reduces in level while remaining two storeys, with much simplified detailing comprising sash windows at first floor and a late-20th-century shop front below.

The building is accessed via the main entrance on Station Road, leading to a small panelled entrance vestibule with stained glass fanlight and a further door to the entrance hallway. This leads to a late-19th-century dog-leg newel post stair at the building's rear, providing access to the first floor. The stair balusters are chunky and square in section with an open string and decorative brackets. The newel posts have finials with chevron cornicing. The ground floor has been extensively altered to accommodate retail units, and the survival of original features is unknown.

The first floor interior has undergone significant alteration with most fittings removed, though original windows with architraves and sills remain. The stair opens to a first-floor hallway which at its southern end provides access to the former billiard room, marked by a stained glass fanlight above the door. The billiard room roof structure survives, comprising timber collared-roof trusses with steel tie beams. Chamfered purlins run between the trusses with run-out stops.