Number 27 Including Gates And Gatepiers Adjoining South Side

Offices, built between 1910 and 1911 by Percival C. Blow for Messrs Ryder and Sons, a seed and bulb merchant. The building is constructed of red brick in English bond, with stone dressings and a granite ashlar plinth. It has a hipped roof covered with plain tiles, concealed behind a parapet. The plan is double depth, with a central entrance hall and stairwell, flanked by four offices at the front and rear. The design combines Arts and Crafts and Wrenaissance styles.

The west front is symmetrical, with a 1:3:1 bay arrangement. It features a stone modillion cornice that continues around projecting end bays, which have banded pilasters with wreaths in the friezes. The windows on the first and second floors are slightly bowed, four-light stone mullion and transom windows with leaded panes. Large carved stone reliefs depicting agricultural scenes – ploughing, sewing and harvesting – are set between the first and second floor windows, featuring large figures representing a god and goddess. A stone portico with a composite half-column panel dated 1911, a segmented pediment, fielded panel double doors, and an overlight are at the centre, with flanking stone cross-mullion-transom windows, keystones in flat brick arches, and a band above. The first floor has three bullseye windows with moulded terracotta festoons.

The building includes a gateway and adjoining gate piers on the south side. The piers are of stone banded brick on granite plinths, with moulded caps and ornate cast-iron double gates to the carriageway. The gates include balusters and geometric patterns.

The interior remains largely unaltered, retaining many original features, including a vaulted entrance lobby with a tiled ceiling and a pilastered and pedimented mahogany screen. The staircase has a mahogany balustrade with a wreathed handrail and moulded balusters. The stairs, landing, and central first-floor office are lit by domes with leaded stained glass panes, with moulded trailing vine pilaster work on the walls. The front right-hand first floor office features a mahogany chimneypiece with a segmental pedimented overmantel displaying the arms.

The building was constructed by local builders Miskins for Samuel Ryder, the seed merchant, who was later mayor of St Albans and a deacon of Trinity. Ryder was the presenter of the Ryder Cup, the Great Britain versus U.S. golf tournament trophy. A bottle containing packets of seeds, a seed catalogue, and a history of the firm was buried under the foundations.