Barbican Hotel

Barbican Hotel

A gentlemen's club built in 1867 to designs by architect Michael Drury, subsequently converted to a hotel with alterations carried out during the 1890s by Goddard & Sons and Messrs W Watkins & Sons, followed by further alterations during the twentieth century.

The building is constructed of brick with stone dressings. It is oriented roughly east-west and faces south onto St Mary's Street. The plan comprises a central block with flanking wings and two projecting wings to the rear.

The main block is six bays wide and four storeys tall with a basement. The present main entrance is centrally positioned, recessed behind an ornamental stone surround with pilasters and columns supporting a deep hood with carved detailing to the spandrels and corbels supporting a cornice above. The original main entrance is located in the left-hand bay of the central block, featuring a surround of quoins and keystone with a carved face. Ground floor windows have arched heads with moulded hoodmoulds linked by a stringcourse. The basement windows have been blocked and rendered over.

First floor windows are square-headed in moulded surrounds supported on corbels. At second floor level the surrounds incorporate scroll and shell detailing to the heads. Third floor windows have stone cills and recessed brick surrounds. Throughout the building the windows are single-pane sashes. Above the third floor windows are projecting eaves supported on corbels, with plain brick panels and corbels alternating between the windows.

To the left of the main block is a three-storey wing with ground floor windows matching those on the main block, and quoins lining the edges at ground floor level. The first and second floors have two windows each in plain brick surrounds. Changes in the brickwork mark the location of a large oriel window originally and an area of possible rebuilding above.

To the right of the main block is a single-storey wing with a central Venetian window and moulded balustrade above, topped by a domed roof.

The east elevation features some stone detailing to the windows and a large projecting chimney. The rear elevations are largely plain brick with further chimneys and irregular fenestration, including a bay window facing a courtyard.

The central main entrance opens into a wide hall with a short flight of steps leading to an arched screen which divides the entrance space from the staircase beyond. The arches of the screen are supported on columns and pilasters painted to resemble marble with Corinthian capitals. The staircase is a wide open-well space with decorative cornicing, moulded handrail and balusters, rising from ground to second floor level. A secondary stair with stick balusters and moulded newel posts rises the full height of the building.

To the right of the main entrance at ground floor is the former dining room, now fitted with modern fittings. A room beyond has a large bay window with plain cornice and deep skirtings. The coffee room from the 1890s extension survives complete with its Venetian window and decorative plasterwork supported at cornice level on capitals bearing the initials 'AH', with a central dome above. Other ground floor rooms retain some cornicing, skirtings and doors. The original visitors' waiting room preserves its fireplace and surround. The former smoking room and billiard room have modern fittings and have been opened up, though the line of the former division between them remains discernible.

At basement level a central arched passage provides access to numerous rooms, including the former kitchen which retains a cast iron range, and the former manager's parlour with a surviving fireplace.

The upper floors incorporate later subdivisions largely to form en-suite bathrooms and bedrooms, with inserted partitions on the main landing at each level. Much surviving interior woodwork and cornicing is retained throughout.