42 AND 44, MORTIMER STREET W1 (See details for further address information)

This is a large corner building comprising shops and flats, dating from the early 20th century (around 1904), designed by Beresford Pite. It was originally built as a youth hostel. The building is constructed of banded red brick with Portland stone dressings and a slate roof, reflecting Pite's individual Arts and Crafts style. It is four storeys high, with a basement and two tiers of dormers in the gable end roofs. The building has a long nine-bay facade to Great Titchfield Street and a three-bay return. A central, pedimented doorway is prominent on the Mortimer Street frontage, flanked by shop windows. The facades have a strong vertical emphasis, featuring narrow through-storey oriels and shallow arcades framing cambered arched sash windows. A parapet with coping extends up the gable ends, and the vertical emphasis is continued through the dormers to lofty, panelled chimney stacks. Plain area railings surround the building. A London County Council plaque on number 44 marks the former residence and death of Joseph Nollekens on this site.