Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Attached Railings is a Grade II listed building in the Camden local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 October 1951. Terraced house.

Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Attached Railings

WRENN ID
forgotten-chalk-smoke
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Camden
Constituency
Holborn and St Pancras
Country
England
Date first listed
24 October 1951
Type
Terraced house
Address
Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Attached Railings, Great Russell Street
OS grid reference
TQ 302 816
Coordinates
51.51897, -0.1239
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is a terraced house that dates from the late 17th century. It was converted into two houses and remodeled by John Nash around 1777-1778, then rejoined in 1860 with a third floor added. The building is finished in stucco with a rusticated ground floor.

It stands four storeys high with a basement and features seven windows on the main facade, along with an eight-window return to Great Russell Street. The front is symmetrical, with a later (1860) distyle Doric porch that includes a triglyph frieze and a mutule cornice. The entrance has a panelled door with a fanlight above it. The ground floor has round-arched openings with keystones and impost bands, and the windows are two-pane sashes set in plain shallow recesses. A plain band runs along the first floor level.

From the first to the third floor, Corinthian pilasters support an entablature, which has the frieze inscribed "The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain." The first-floor windows feature consoles with alternating segmental and triangular pediments, while the third floor has recessed rectangular windows. The fourth floor is adorned with pilasters that support a cornice and blocking course, and the windows here are rectangular recessed sashes. The return elevation has a similar treatment but lacks pilasters and includes an arched entrance with double doors in the sixth bay. The first-floor band is inscribed "Incorporated AD 1843," and the first-floor windows have cornices while the second-floor windows are architraved.

Inside, there is a stone staircase with wrought-iron scroll balusters, and the principal rooms boast plaster ceilings dating from around 1777-1778. The property also features attached cast-iron railings with urn finials surrounding the areas.

Local climate

Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Attached Railings sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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