11, 12, 14, 16 17, WATERLOO PLACE SW1 (See details for further address information)

Nos 11, 12, 14, 16 and 17 Waterloo Place SW1 (including Nos 9 to 12 Pall Mall and No 29 Charles II Street)

A large symmetrical block of offices and banks, built between 1901 and the mid-1920s, probably designed by Arthur E. Thompson, with No 16 completed by Durward Brown in 1925 as part of the unified design. The building is constructed of Portland stone with slate roofs.

The composition is arranged as a palatial pavilion group in an Edwardian Baroque interpretation of Palladian style. It replaces and follows the plan of Nash's scheme for the north-western half of Waterloo Place on his Via Triumphalis, balancing the similar block of Nos 7 to 9 opposite. The building consists of 3 main storeys, attic storeys and mansards, with basements throughout.

Nos 11 and 12 form a terminal pavilion at the approach to Regent Street, rising above the level of the rest of the composition. Their detailing, while not continuous with the rest, remains stylistically similar. The main west elevation spans 9 bays arranged as 2:5:2, with the central 5 bays advanced. The ground floor features a channelled rustication podium. The outermost bays of the advanced centre contain elaborate porches, each with an advanced architrave flanked by Doric piers with draped ram's heads supporting a stepped entablature. Above each porch is an oeil-de-boeuf decorated with an arched cornice, garland, reversed volutes and clusters of fruit. The podium contains recessed, semicircular arched windows with dropped keystones. The advanced bays above feature a giant Corinthian order framing first-floor Ionic aediculed windows with blind balustraded aprons and pulvinated friezes, and second-floor windows beneath the main entablature. The attic storey is articulated by piers with lion-heads, pendants and swags, crowned by a pediment with a cartouche framed in palm branches. The wings employ a similar design but with the giant order implied.

Nos 14, 16 and 17, together with the Waterloo Place elevation of No 9 Pall Mall, are set back in response to the widening of Waterloo Place proper. This section spans 13 bays arranged as 4:5:4, with the centre advanced. The central porch features Ionic columns, dosserets and an open pediment with elaborate trophy. Two further porches occupy the outer bays of the 5-bay centre break, each with coupled Ionic columns with blocked shafts and entablature cut back at the centre to accommodate a stepped keystone, crowned by a broken pediment framing a lunette. The fenestration matches that of Nos 11-12, with a giant engaged Corinthian order to the first and second floors. The advanced centre bays additionally feature a giant Composite order articulating a 2-storey attic. Balustraded parapets, chimney stacks with sunken panels and cornice capping, and stone balustraded areas complete this section.

The Pall Mall elevation (Nos 9 to 12, the first phase of the rebuilding) spans 8 bays arranged as 3:3:2, employing the same features with a 2-storey Composite attic order over the centre break. No 11 has a similar porch to those in the outer bays of the Waterloo Place centre break, with a secondary entrance in place of a window in the third bay from the west. The ground floor keystones on the front are carved with grotesques. The upper tier of windows in the 2-storey attic is treated as enriched oeil-de-boeuf.

The Charles II Street front is designed in a lower key, with orders expressed as pilasters only in the symmetrical entrance bays. No 29 balances No 28 opposite, framing the entrance to Waterloo Place.