1, King William Street

This is a bank with offices above, built between 1921 and 1922 by William Campbell-Jones and Alex Smithers for the London Assurance Company. It is constructed of Portland stone, channelled at ground floor level and ashlar above, with a steel frame and reinforced concrete staircases and vaults. The roof is slated with stepped dormers. The building is five storeys high, with attics and a semi-basement, and fronts onto a triangular site in a Classical style.

The semi-basement has large metal-framed windows with frosted glass panes and a cast iron railing with simplified urn finials. The ground floor openings are architraved with festooned console keystones and recessed metal-framed windows with margin glazing. A plain band at first floor level supports giant pilasters with cartouche capitals which carry the main entablature. A projecting bracketed cornice is at fourth floor level. Smaller first-floor windows create a mezzanine effect, each with a balustraded balcony, separated by pilasters with wreaths. Entablatures are above the second-floor windows, alternating with cornices or pediments on console brackets. The third-floor windows are architraved, and the fourth-floor attic storey is plain with a moulded eaves cornice. The main entrance, at a right-hand angle, is four storeys high and runs into the building on an axis canted at an angle to St Swithins Lane. A hexagonal ante-porch has openings on three sides, with plain surrounds and console brackets supporting aedicules. The ceiling has a sunken dome, and the doorway has been altered. The left-hand angle is curved with three windows. A round-arched niche with a festoon is centrally located on the second floor. At roof level is a pilastered two-storey rotunda with a copper dome resting on enriched copper brackets. The shape of the site was utilized to create interestingly shaped rooms, particularly on the first and second floors. The axial planning maximized the benefit of the pen area on the south, and the battered ground floor allowed for increased light within the building. The building forms a group with numbers 3-7 King William Street, and 1-6 Lombard Street.