100 Pall Mall

100 Pall Mall is a seven-storey commercial building constructed in in-situ reinforced concrete and clad in Portland stone, with pitched slate roofs. It occupies a corner site with its main elevation facing Pall Mall, while also addressing the west elevation of the Reform Club to the east and buildings facing Carlton Gardens to the south.

The building is arranged symmetrically on a rectangular plan around an enclosed atrium that functions as a light well. The central entrance from Pall Mall leads to rear stairs and lifts. A former banking hall, now reordered, occupies the north-east corner.

The primary architectural interest lies in the quality of the materials, proportions and detailing of the exterior. The north and south elevations are arranged in eleven bays, whilst the east elevation has nine bays. The sixth and seventh storeys are treated as an attic storey. The main elevation to Pall Mall is composed in the proportion 1:2:5:2:1, with a central entrance recessed within a three-bay groin-vaulted loggia featuring plain, segmental arched openings. The rear wall of the loggia is similarly articulated. The entrance itself is set in a rectangular opening beneath a simple canopy bearing the number 100 and supported on robust brackets. The polished stone floor with darker slips has been partly replaced to accommodate disabled access.

Plate glass sash windows in timber frames are mostly square-headed. For emphasis, segmental-headed windows appear at the central bay to the right and left of the loggia at ground floor level and to the second and third bays at fourth and fifth floor level. At first floor level, the corresponding bays have full-height sash windows with shallow balconies. The attic storeys sit within a steep mansard roof set back between two-bay projecting pavilions, which have segmental-headed niches to their outer returns. The southern elevation, facing the large mansions of Carlton Gardens, echoes the northern elevation in simplified form and has a pair of smaller entrances rather than the central loggia. The eastern elevation, refurbished in 2012, has tall segmental-headed sashes at ground floor level and an entrance in the south-east corner, with the upper two storeys treated as a continuous recessed attic storey with segmental-headed openings to the central three bays and segmental-headed niches to the end bays.

The main elevation is set behind a low parapet wall, with the entrance reached by steps. Access has been modified.

The interior, whilst not attributed to the architect of the exterior and with an unconfirmed installation date, displays a simplified classical form in the entrance hall that is commensurate with the exterior. A central coffered entrance hall is lined in buff and veined green marble and polished stone, with matching floors. Alcoves to left and right have been altered and refurbished. A tall round-arched portal leads to a similarly treated vaulted rear stair hall and lift lobby. An open-well stair to the first floor is lined in polished stone with veined green marble dados and skirtings, bronze balustrades and brass handrails. Above first floor level, masonry stairs have steel balustrades and brass handrails, with tall dados lined in grey terrazzo with flush black skirtings and dado rails. Entrances from the stairwell to the main office floors have been replaced on all but the upper floor. Offices throughout have been refurbished and are not of special interest. The ground floor former banking hall has been subdivided and refitted with an inserted mezzanine floor and retains none of its original fittings or finishes. The former banking hall interior is not of special interest.