Northumberland House (Victoria Buildings)

Northumberland House, also known as Victoria Buildings, is a Grade II listed building located on Northumberland Avenue in the City of Westminster. Constructed between 1882 and 1887 by architects Isaacs and Florence, it was originally built as the Victoria Hotel. The building is made of Portland stone and features slate roofs, presenting a vast yet elegantly detailed "Second Empire palace" style.

The structure consists of six storeys plus two additional storeys of stone dormers beneath a steeply sloped slated mansard roof, which is topped with central and terminal taller pavilion roofs. It spans 21 windows in length. The ground floor is channelled and includes a mezzanine, with a large central entrance featuring an archivolt arch, relief-carved spandrels, and a sculptural crest, along with two secondary doorways. The ground floor windows are large and also have archivolt arches, while the upper floors are fitted with two-light sash windows.

The centerpiece of the building features a three-storey bow adorned with caryatids and oval windows extending to the fourth floor. The attic storey is marked by coupled and tripled semicircular arched windows. The centerpiece and terminal pavilions are accentuated by a giant order of Corinthian pilasters on the second, third, and fourth floors. There are entablatures above the ground floor and the fourth floor, with the latter being bracketed, leading up to the attic storey. The French pavilion roofs are flanked by prominent chimney stacks. Additionally, there is ornamental ironwork on the first-floor balcony and a stone parapeted balcony on the third floor. Notably, when it was built, the hotel only had four bathrooms for 500 guests, which is a stark contrast to the 70 bathrooms available at the Savoy Hotel on the Strand.