Lowndes House

ISLINGTON

TQ3282SE CITY ROAD 635-1/76/246 (East side) No.1 Lowndes House

II

Office building. Early C20. Portland stone, roofs of slate. Seven storeys; the building occupies a wedge shaped site between City Road and Tabernacle Street, with a five-window range to the corner, six-window range to City Road, and eight-window range to Tabernacle Street; the five-window range forms a shallow bow in plan as far as the fifth floor; additionally, the three middle windows are stepped forward slightly to the ground floor, mezzanine and sixth floor, but recessed in the intervening floors, the curved entablature continued over the third floor and carried by two giant Corinthian columns with balustrading between. Base of grey polished granite with rusticated stone to the rest of the ground floor and mezzanine; ground-floor openings replaced, apart from keystones, in late C20; mezzanine windows flat-arched with scrolled and festooned keystones to City Road frontage, corner and first two bays of Tabernacle Street; on this floor and above the remaining six bays in Tabernacle Street are treated more plainly. Above the mezzanine, banded rustication is confined to the corner elevation and the left-hand bay in City Road; all upper windows flat-arched, those to City Road and first two bays of Tabernacle Street having architraves to first and second floors, and a panel above that flanked by fasces to all but north bay; entablature and modillion cornice; attic storey decorated with fasces to curved front; cornice and blocking course; at seventh-floor level there are segmental-arched dormers to City Road and first two bays in Tabernacle Street; the corner is treated as three temple fronts surmounted by a dome and lantern, those to the sides having flat-arched windows with keystones and festoons with open pediment over; that to the front having round-arched window with festooned architrave, scrolled keystone and oculus between the two pilasters supporting an open and broken pediment. The elevations of Lowndes House make particularly effective use of its corner site.

Listing NGR: TQ3282682118