4-6 Glasshouse Street

Commercial premises dating from 1909, designed by Edward Keynes Purchase, with the ground floor façade created by Reginald Blomfield for the London, County and Westminster Bank. The building was converted to a restaurant in the 1970s.

The building is faced in Portland stone with a polished granite plinth. The rear is glazed brick. The roof is slate with stone chimneystacks.

The building stands on the island site known as Monico, occupying a narrow plot facing south onto Glasshouse Street and Piccadilly Circus beyond. It is flanked by other buildings on either side and to the rear.

The principal elevation facing Glasshouse Street is symmetrical and baroque in character, comprising six storeys and three bays. The ground floor features a central multiple-pane bow window flanked by herms supporting a fascia now covered by modern signage. Solid double doors occupy the bays to either side; the right-hand door is original and panelled with swag relief mouldings on the central rail. On the second storey, the central bay window has a round arch with timber pediment between marginal lights. Giant rusticated pilasters frame the elevation and articulate the bays, terminating with stocky scroll consoles with foliate cartouches that support a second-floor balcony with bottle balustrade. Full-height windows occupy each bay with open pediments and tall keystones; the central window is tripartite with engaged Ionic columns. Other windows typically have four lights separated by mullions and transoms. Giant engaged Ionic columns articulate the bays on the third and fourth storeys, terminating in an entablature with pulvinated frieze and dentil cornice. The fifth storey has stout pilasters with curved bases and labels with relief pendants. A cornice separates the sixth storey, which features a shaped gable in the central bay containing a tripartite window with column mullions. Above this sits a broken segmental pediment containing an oeil de boeuf window, from which a keystone-like projection crowns the gable. The flanking bays have windows recessed behind balconies with bottle balustrades and urn finials. Stone chimneystacks with deep moulded cornices complete the exterior.

The interior retains special interest concentrated in the former banking hall, now a bar, arranged as open plan. Some walls retain painted oak dado panelling. A bolection moulded chimneypiece survives. The ceiling is richly moulded with a large sunken domed rose towards the front and three smaller roses to the rear. Panelled doors with moulded architraves generally survive throughout the building.

The stair rises in a dog-leg from basement through all six storeys at the front of the building. It features square newels, some panelled with acorn finials and pendants. The balusters are shaped, with some boxed in. Ceiled soffits have plaster detailing, and some flights retain timber panelling to the walls.

The first floor, also a bar, has replica panelling. Moulded ceilings may survive but were covered at inspection. The second, third and fifth floors retain few historic features and are excluded from the listing. The fourth floor, originally offices, retains an incomplete scheme of plaster mouldings to walls and ceilings, and has two cast iron chimneypieces with egg and dart and relief mouldings.