No. 30 Euston Square and attached railings (formerly 1-9 Melton Street)

No. 30 Euston Square and attached railings

A substantial four-storey office building with attic and basement, designed in the early 20th century as the headquarters of a major company. The structure comprises a long rectangular block facing east into Euston Square and Melton Street, with a short return to the south towards Euston Road, and a deep rear wing on the north side, creating an L-shaped footprint. It is constructed of load-bearing Portland stone and brick masonry with slate roofs, steel and concrete floors, and windows of steel or timber casements.

The principal elevation, constructed 1906–8, stretches across nine bays arranged in three groups of three, plus a recessed entrance bay to the north. The ground floor is rusticated, with an enriched band between the ground and first floors. The three central bays are the focus of ornamental attention. The piers flanking the outer bays rise to support a giant order of attached fluted Ionic columns of the Bassae order—a refined type derived from the interior of the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae—carrying an entablature that breaks forward above the columns. The first- and second-floor windows in the central bays are paired and divided by giant-order Ionic columns set within a moulded frame with cornice above. The third-floor windows are tripartite, divided by Ionic columns and flanked by pilasters. Second-floor windows have roundels on aprons and a moulded band beneath; third-floor windows have pediments with keystones. Above these central bays rise three triangular gables, added in 1913, each containing a Serliana window. The attic storey, originally rising above the outer flanking bays only, is in the form of an open loggia with Ionic columns. Stonework details throughout are derived from Greek stele heads, sarcophagi and other sepulchral monuments.

The main entrance is located in the penultimate bay to the south, marked by a porch with square granite pillars supporting an enriched frieze and segmental hood, with upswept wrought-iron gates attached to piers fitted with cast-iron wreath hinges. The south return to Euston Road is similar to the flanking bays of the main elevation, except that the columns support a straight entablature and pediment. First-floor windows here are furnished with cast-iron balconies, and an entrance with a glazed timber door and iron grilles provides access.

The north entrance bay features a slightly bowed porch with plain transom and mullion detail and glazed timber doors with iron grilles. Above rises a round-arched recess extending through two storeys, with Diocletian windows at top and bottom and a mezzanine window with paired round arches separated by an Ionic half-column. This bay terminates in a complex attic feature comprising three small rectangular windows, a tiny Diocletian window and plain transoms and mullions.

A 1923 extension in the same Greek idiom adjoins the building. It is three storeys in height, plus a set-back attic and mansard roof, with a façade of two bays. The ground-floor windows are pilastered; upper-floor windows are set beneath broken pediments with stylised Ionic drops and are separated by roundel spandrel panels.

The interior is exceptionally ornate. The entrance hall is finished lavishly in green and cream Doulton Parian ware tiles with moulded relief patterns. The ceiling is supported on elongated console brackets. The chimneypiece has a black marble moulded surround, black and white tiled slips and fireback, and an overmantel bearing three roundels with the arms of London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, surmounted by a stylised Greek entablature and pediment with antefixae. The floor is a black and white mosaic laid in a grid pattern with a large central roundel of guilloches containing the twelve signs of the zodiac. At its centre is a smaller roundel of letters reading "Founded Anno Domini MDCCCLXXXI" encircling intertwined initials "LEG". A black marble wall tablet records the names of company members who fell in the Great War.

A pair of arches leads through to the large open L-plan office, which has a beamed plaster ceiling supported on a series of paired arches clad in green and white relief tiles matching the entrance hall. The walls are clad in brown and dark yellow tiles to dado height and cream and yellow tiles above.

The first floor contains a board room above the entrance hall, a series of offices along a corridor, and an open-plan office in the rear wing. The board room features three-quarter height oak panelling, a coffered plaster ceiling and ribbed frieze, and a handsome Greek-style chimneypiece with white marble surround and yellow and black marble slips, designed by Farmer & Brindley. Windows are set into arched recesses. Two other offices have oak chimneypieces. First-floor offices have oak panelled doors with pedimented architraves and glazed doors to either end of the corridor.

The floors above contain open-plan offices. The attic, originally containing a club room, dining room and caretaker's flat, is now open plan and retains one fireplace from its original arrangement.

The rear wing is clad with green and cream tiled piers and brown tiled dados matching those of the ground-floor office; the third floor carries the same finish. Three stairs serve the interior: one at the rear of the entrance hall serving the Euston Road entrance, with an adjacent lift and spiral stair; one in the north entrance bay; and one in the southwest corner of the rear wing. The south stair has a closed string, carved drop finials, heavy handrail and turned balusters, with unusual newel posts in the form of fluted obelisks. The inner string is clad in brown and yellow tiling. The north stair has a close string and elongated finials with rounded caps, and triangular stick balusters set in groups of three. Both the north stairwell and southwest stair are clad in bands of banded brown and cream glazed bricks. The north extension contains no interior features of architectural interest.

Elaborate iron railings with Ionic column piers on a low plinth enclose the property. Gate piers at the Euston Road entrance are constructed of stone with anthemion heads and iron gates of similar design to those at the main entrance porch; gates also guard the north entrance.

The building was formerly listed under its original address of 1–9 Melton Street.