Albert Buildings

Albert Buildings, located on Queen Victoria Street, was built in 1871 by F J Ward. It occupies one side of a triangular island site, featuring a continuous Italian Gothic facade that wraps around the rounded corners. The building has four storeys and a painted stone exterior, characterized by a series of identical bays at each level, with a five-storey central section on the main front. The facade includes 20 bays along Queen Victoria Street, with ground floor shops that are each two bays wide, separated by piers with foliated caps and moulded lintels.

Above the ground floor, there is an enriched cill band, and the first-floor arcade features attached columns with acanthus caps supporting stilted segmental arches. Each arched opening consists of two bays over recessed pairs of round-headed windows with attached colonettes. The rounded corners at this level have a narrower, single-bay arcade. The second floor showcases an arcade of round-headed windows with colonettes, pointed arched drip moulds, carved labels, and enriched spandrels.

On the third floor, squat piers with carved caps support windows with moulded segmental stilted arched heads. The entire elevation is topped with a bold corbel table at the second floor and an enriched band at the third floor cill level, culminating in a cornice made up of these two elements, which is further enhanced by a pierced parapet featuring widely spaced round-headed lucarnes. The cornice is interrupted by an eight-bay quasi-attic center, where corbelled balconettes are found above deeply recessed round-headed windows set within an arcade of pointed arches. This raised center is capped with a cornice similar to that above the main facade.