2-7, Salisbury Court Ec4

Commercial chambers built in 1878, designed by Alexander Peebles with carving by Smith and Finlay. The building is constructed of brick in English bond, with rubbed brick and terracotta dressings, and features wood bays with pargetted bases. It has a hipped slate roof. The building is three storeys high over a basement and has a five-window range, articulated into three major and two minor bays using prominent brick piers. The design is in the Queen Anne Revival style, drawing inspiration from Shaw’s New Zealand Chambers on Leadenhall Street (demolished). A pair of round-arched entrances are located in the second and fifth window ranges. The ground floor wood insets are renewed but replicate an original design. Terracotta plaques are positioned at the sills of the first-floor windows, depicting sunflowers, scrolls, and a bust in three-quarter relief. The brick piers transition into fluted pilasters on the second floor. A shield depicting three tuns is on the pier between the third and fourth window ranges; the Tuscan pilasters above are doubled. A projecting cornice at the second floor develops into a full entablature over the entrance ranges. The first, third, and fourth window ranges feature two-storey bays on the upper floors; the former is rectangular in two stages, while the second two are shallowly canted. Most of the original window glazing remains. Flat-arched windows are found in the inset entrance ranges, with the first-floor window in the first window range being elliptical arched. Each bay range terminates in a Dutch gable dormer; the dormer on the fourth window range has lost the top of its gable. Originally, each dormer featured volute brackets supporting a crescent moon parapet, but these were lost during the filling in and heightening of the top storey. All dormer windows are segmental arched, except for those in the fourth window range, which contain flat-arched windows. The roof was rebuilt with a second tier of dormers. Stacks are present to interior fire walls and party walls. A blue plaque indicates that the first edition of the "Sunday Times" was edited at number 4 Salisbury Court by Henry White on October 20, 1822. Other similar ranges designed by Peebles, extending along Fleet Street, have since been demolished.