Royal London Mutual Insurance Building

The Royal London Mutual Insurance Building is an office building with shop units dating to 1902, designed by Essex, Nichol and Goodman. It is constructed of ashlar and has a slate roof. The building is in an Edwardian Baroque style, notable for its rich carved decoration.

The main facade, facing Lichfield Street, is three storeys tall with an attic and a central tower. The 7-bay rounded section facing Princes Square mirrors a similar 3-bay facade on Lichfield Street, with a curved corner leading to Lichfield Passage. The ground floor features rusticated piers and an entablature, while the 1st and 2nd floors have a giant Ionic colonnade. The pavilion roof includes dormers and top railings. Later shop fronts are set within the piers of the ground floor, incorporating cherub panels and a panelled frieze with cartouches. The 1st and 2nd floors boast canted bay windows, with a central round-headed window on the 1st floor and a 1:2:1 arrangement of round-headed windows with 10-pane sashes on the 2nd floor. The attic has 2-light dormer windows framed by aedicules, featuring cartouches in open pediments with urn finials. The central bay has a round-headed entrance flanked by squat, tapering antae, with a frieze above bearing cartouches with the letters EL/FS and A/1902/D. Sashes, some with 12 panes, are found throughout the upper floors. A balustraded parapet with urn finials tops the building.

The tower features hollow-chamfered angles, bulls’ eyes with giant keystones, and open pediments. Aedicules with open pediments and windows with giant keystones sit below, topped by a cupola and finial. The Lichfield Street facade is similar but has a 6-window attic with a central gable incorporating 2 round-headed windows, coped gable ends with stacks. The curved corner is simpler, with 2-light windows and dormers with segmental pediments.

A plainer four-storey, attic range fronts Wulfruna Street, comprising four bays, and featuring an entablature supported by mask-corbel to the 2nd floor. The building has 3-light windows, those to the 1st floor with transoms and those to the 3rd floor with round-headed lights. The attic features straight-headed dormers.