Former Royal Institute Of Painters In Water Colours Premises, Now Forming Part Of Prince'S House

190-195 Piccadilly, London W1

This large institutional building with shops and arcade at ground floor level was designed by E.R. Robson and built between 1881 and 1883. The main sculptural embellishment was carried out by Onslow Ford.

Exterior

The building is a monumental structure in the Free Renaissance style, faced in Portland stone with a concealed roof. It rises to three storeys, with the uppermost storey being considerably taller. The façade is divided into nine bays at second floor height.

The ground and first floors are articulated by rusticated pilasters, between which late 20th-century shop fronts have been inserted. The second bay from the right leads to the Prince's Arcade and features a projecting semi-circular balcony at first floor level, with an opening above that illuminates the double-height arcade. Ornamental railings (renewed) front the first floor windows (also renewed). A dentil cornice marks the second floor level.

The end bays project slightly and are enriched with paired Corinthian pilasters. The centre of the second floor features a lower pilastrade with part-fluted pilasters carrying a garland-hung frieze. Above each pilaster sits a triglyph and scrolled terminal with anthemion decoration. A triple window group occupies the centre, with allegorical sculptures in front flanking a cartouche dated 1883—these sculptures were carved by Verheyden and originally embellished the main entrance.

Square moulded frames with roundels decorate each main bay, containing busts on socles of celebrated watercolourists. From left to right, these represent Sandby, Cozens, Girtin, Turner, David Cox, De Wint, Barret and William Hunt. A blind wall above these expresses the former gallery that lay behind.

The crowning entablature features a balustraded parapet. The frieze is inscribed in sunken capitals: "ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PAINTERS IN WATER COLOUR Fd. 1831". A dentil cornice with lion-head stops to the cymatium completes the composition. The rear elevations are faced in red and yellow brick.

Interior and Prince's Arcade

The interior has undergone severe alteration and was not inspected for this assessment. The Prince's Arcade is a uniform sequence of shops, each with projecting shopfronts carried on scrolled brackets. The front section (now occupied by numbers 1-11 and 2-10 Prince's Arcade) is double-height with a blind arcade at upper level. The southern portion is lower. The northernmost bay features decorative plasterwork to the ceiling incorporating Prince of Wales feathers set within wreaths and garlands.

History

The building was constructed to house the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RIPWC), a body founded in 1831 as the New Society of Painters in Water Colours. The structure reflects the prominence watercolour painting held in the Victorian period—a status that required active promotion, owing to Royal Academy resistance to accord watercolours the same respect given to oil painting. Artists, patrons and bankers combined to form the Piccadilly Art Galleries Company Limited in 1881 to undertake the development. Architect E.R. Robson, a friend of James Orrock, a principal figure behind the scheme, was engaged for the project.

The original building opened in 1883, when it was opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Its main public gallery was named the Prince's Hall. In 1900, the Prince's Hall was joined with the Prince's Hotel to the rear and subsequently became used as a restaurant. The interior underwent considerable alteration in 1907 and 1908, during which the façade was also modified. Further alterations occurred in 1929 to 1933, when the Prince's Arcade was inserted into the second bay from the right. Second World War bomb damage necessitated further alterations, as did post-war use as the headquarters of Pan-American Airlines, which resulted in drastic changes in 1956. The Prince's Arcade was renovated in 1983.

The building to the rear of the former RIPWC, now joined as an office building named Prince's House, was originally built as the Prince's Hotel. Since 1976, the premises have been largely occupied by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

The building is listed for the architectural quality of its Piccadilly street frontage and for its historical interest as a rare and remarkable premises of an art institution. The Prince's Arcade is also of special interest, though the rear portion of Prince's House, the former hotel, is of lesser significance.