Former Prudential Building

Former Prudential Assurance Building, Lewisham

This former insurance office building stands on the corner of Lewisham High Street and Limes Grove. It is constructed with a stone plinth, red brick walls, and terracotta dressings, with timber sash windows and slate mansard roofs topped with red brick chimneys. The building is L-shaped in plan, presenting a long seven-bay frontage to Lewisham High Street and a four-bay return to Limes Grove, with a distinctive canted bay occupying the corner.

The canted corner bay contains the principal entrance, which is framed by radiating stone voussoirs and flanked by oeil-de-boeuf windows with elongated keystones. The original panelled front door and metal-paned fanlight survive. Above the entrance is a rusticated niche decorated with festoons, topped with a balustrade and containing a statue of a female figure holding a ledger and a serpent, symbolising Prudence. A plaque reading "Prudential Buildings" in Arts-and-Crafts-style lettering adorns the parapet.

Both principal elevations are symmetrical, with advancing end bays and central bay on the long elevation, each terminating under a broken triangular or segmental pediment with a Diocletian window in its tympanum. Horizontal rustication to the stone plinth and large terracotta quoins to the projecting bays create an impression of solidity, an essential element of an insurance company's public image. A row of six shops runs along the Lewisham High Street frontage, with a terracotta balustrade along the parapet and upper storeys set back behind. The timber shop fronts, part of the original design and likely included as a commercial investment by the Prudential Company, have been replaced, and no original features remain visible in the shop interiors. The ground floor fenestration to Limes Grove and the end bay of the Lewisham High Street elevation comprises large segmental-arched windows retaining original timber glazing bars. A secondary entrance gives direct access to the upper storeys; this features a recessed stone porch with a chequered tiled floor, decorative iron gates and railings, a boot scrape, and a panelled hardwood door. Windows to the upper storeys are dressed with terracotta aprons and keystones and feature gauged brick flat arches. Dormer windows are casements with small triangular pediments. The rear elevations facing the back alley are constructed of stock brick with red brick dressings and timber sash windows.

Interior

The former insurance office, accessed via the corner entrance, originally comprised four individual offices arranged along a corridor but has been opened up to form a large open-plan space with a short section of corridor and a single individual office to the rear. Original fittings surviving within include: panelled double doors to the vestibule with glazed upper portions and a fanlight; parquet flooring; terracotta cladding to the piers decorated with the arms of the Prudential Assurance Company (three crowns, six birds, and a laurel wreath); a coffered ceiling to the rear of the open-plan office; cornices and picture rails; a large terracotta chimneypiece with Ionic pilasters and a tiled fireplace with metal grate; a glazed screen with round-headed panels; and in the corridor, door architraves with lugged surrounds. The remaining individual office features a curvilinear plasterwork ceiling, though its fireplace has been removed. The original open-well staircase, providing separate access to the upper floors, survives with a decorative iron balustrade and timber handrail. Original glazed double doors to the upper floor corridors remain in place. The upper storeys' original use is not documented; they are now residential apartments.