6 And 7, Portugal Street And 5, St Clement'S Lane

Offices built in 1903 by architect Horace Field. The building comprises numbers 6 and 7 Portugal Street and number 5 St Clement's Lane, constructed for George Bell & Co (publishers) and The Church Times. The structure was altered in 1979 and 1990/1.

The building is constructed of red brick in English bond with pink brick chainage and bands, combined with ashlar dressings. The roof is covered in plain tiles with slates at the base. The building rises four storeys with an attic storey; the receiving office element was originally three storeys.

The design employs Wrenaissance style, featuring angle pilasters of banded brick and ashlar, decorative rainwater pipes with dated and initialled hoppers, and a heavy cornice with egg and dart moulding and modillions. The tall corniced chimneys are prominent features. Windows on the ground floor are 18-pane sashes set beneath segmental arches, while those above are 12-pane sashes with gauged flat brick arches. First and second floor windows include apron panels and keystones, with those on the first floor arranged in tripartite form. The roof includes hipped-roofed dormers. Most doors are double with panelled lower sections and small-pane glazing above.

The angled entrance bay at the junction of Portugal Street and St Clement's Lane features a door below a fanlight with feathered leading, set within a voussoired ashlar architrave flanked by Ionic pilasters supporting an entablature with cable band, cartouche and modillion cornice. Above is a window in an ashlar architrave with bracketed cornice.

The Portugal Street elevation comprises three, three, and one bays. A double office front extends across six left-hand bays, each tripartite, framed by wooden pilasters of two orders with small-pane glazing and a bowed central window; the bay to number 7 on the left is flanked by doors. A wooden fascia is supported by flanking ashlar columns and pilasters carrying a bracketed entablature, with number 6 having a modillion cornice. A raised verge between numbers 6 and 7 is topped by dormers arranged in two, two, and one pattern, beneath a hipped roof. The left return elevation displays three, one, and seven bays; the three left bays formerly comprised the receiving office, featuring narrower outer bays linked by a recessed bay to the right-hand section. This section is arranged in two, two, and three bays, with a central pedimented three-bay break. The centre is emphasised by ground floor windows in Gibbs-style surround with an oculus above, large stair windows to the first and third floors, and an oeil de boeuf between with a swagged hood. The pediment contains a dated and initialled cartouche with swags. The roof features a central tile-hung belvedere with cornice and iron balustrade.

The St Clement's Lane elevation comprises five, three, and five bays defined by giant pilasters. The left section is centrally emphasised by an entrance in a corniced ashlar architrave and a large round-arched stair window above set in a coved rusticated niche with imposts, keystone and cornice. Above is another large stair window, with a keyed oeil de boeuf to the third floor, topped by a segmental pediment. A raised-and-fielded panelled door to bay five bears the lettering 'Town Trade' and is linked to the window above in an architrave. The six right-hand bays feature double office fronts, bowed and tripartite with small-pane glazing; the rightmost bay (number 5) incorporates an entrance reached by a double-flight stone stair with decorative iron balustrade.

Interior features of number 6 include a circular entrance lobby, altered with black and marble floors, niches and a vaulted side lobby. A vaulted stair rises to the first floor landing, which has arcaded walls, cornice and fruit swags over the entrance to two principal rooms. The library is of high quality, featuring eared architraves, fluted composite-capitalled attached columns, a deep modillioned cornice, decorative fireplace and fitted bookcases.