7 And 8, Waterloo Street

SP 0686 NE BIRMINGHAM WATERLOO STREET (south east side) 33/10166 Numbers 7 and 8

GV II

Commercial offices. 1931-33 by S.N. Cooke and E. Holman for the Legal and General Assurance Society. Portland stone ashlar cladding to a steel frame structure. PLAN: Large banking hall on left with public entrance on the front and small courtyard to right to side entrance to offices above. Moderne style with some stylised classical and Egyptian features. EXTERIOR: 5 storeys and attic. 5-bay north front. Tall ground floor with cornice, Egyptian style portico at centre with coved cornice, roundel with emblem and bronze double doors and with two large plain windows either side with metal-frames with margin glazing bars; inscription above the doorway carved in large letters with serifs: LEGAL & GENERAL ASSURANCE SOCIETY LIMITED. The 4 storeys above has pronounced piers between the windows surmounted by stylised urns on the parapet, the end comer piers are broader and have relief carvings by William Bloye at the top; small stylised rosettes above first and second floor windows; at 4th floor level a banded frieze which continues around the building to the similar right-hand [west] side, also of 5 bays but without the central doorway; set back behind the parapet the plainer attic storey. Metal frame windows with glazing bars. Office entrance let back to the right approached via a small courtyard, two similar bays rising above the parapet level to form a tower, at the base of which is a doorway with an inscription over and panelled double doors; recessed in the comer a lead drainpipe with decorative brackets and hopper. Around the courtyard iron railings and Portland stone piers. INTERIOR: The entrance hall to the offices is lined in limestone [travertine] and onyx with clustered shafts to the pilasters and black bands; the onyx dado continues up the stairs and the ceiling is coffered. Banking hall has broad fluting to limestone window piers and fluting to the frieze of the coffered ceiling.

Listing NGR: SP0689686933