Portsmouth And Southsea Railway Station

Portsmouth and Southsea Railway Station

Railway station dating from around 1866. The building is constructed in red brick laid in Flemish bond with yellow brick and stone dressings. The roofs are predominantly low pitch Welsh slates, with steeper pitched flat-topped roofs over the centre and end bays, each crowned with fretted iron finial rails. Stone-capped brick stacks rise from the left and right of the central section and at the far left of the right tower.

The exterior displays two storeys with attic accommodation in the centre and end bays, arranged across 19 bays overall. The central projecting section features two recessed half-glazed panelled doors with three-pane fanlights on its left and right sides, each set beneath a recessed gauged yellow brick round arch with flanking brick pilasters and moulded stone caps. At the centre is an eight-pane sash window set under a similar round arch with a heavy stone sill. A blue brick plinth with moulded stone coping runs beneath. An iron glazed canopy spans the pavement in front of the central section, supported by two cast-iron brackets with paired flanking iron brackets at the rear supporting roof steelwork. Behind the glazed roof runs a fretted ornamental iron balustrade.

The first floor contains five closely grouped four-pane round-headed sashes set beneath gauged brick stilted round arches with dripstones and flanking engaged stone columns. The centre sash and those at the flanks are taller than the intermediate ones and each has a keystone. A stone frieze and bracketed cornice run across, with a crested parapet and coping above.

Recessed behind the parapet at the centre is a moulded stone dormer with a raised rounded top featuring a keystone and cornice, with an inset clock face. On either side are small narrow fixed casements with cornices and flanking scrolls.

Projecting towers mark each end. At their centres are recessed half-glazed doors with two lower moulded panels and fanlights, set beneath yellow gauged brick stilted round arches with keystones and figureheads, flanked by brick pilasters with moulded stone caps. At first floor level, each tower has a projecting stone balcony with ornate fretted iron balustrade supported on stone brackets. Two narrow recessed sashes sit beneath gauged brick round arches with stone label keystones and sillbands. A brick band with patterned tile strip runs across the centre with frieze and cornice, the stone parapet breaking at the centre with flanking urns. A stone dormer at the centre holds a casement set under a round stone arch with keystone and dripstone.

On the left and right of the central section are five arcaded door and window openings, each with a gauged yellow brick stilted round arch, keystone, and flanking brick pilasters with moulded stone caps. The five openings on the right and three on the left contain recessed four-pane round-headed sashes with stone sills and recessed brick aprons. To the left of these sashes is a late twentieth-century glass door with fanlight, and further left a half-glazed door with narrow fanlight.

The first floor on the left and right of the central part features deep stone sillbands supporting five sashes, each set beneath a gauged yellow brick cambered arch with keystone, stone band, and impost. A brick band, stone frieze, cornice, and parapet complete this level.

The rear facade within the station area contains arcaded door and window openings set beneath gauged brick arches with plain projecting stone imposts and plinth.

Within the station area, five cast-iron columns are arranged in a line at right angles to the main building, forming three main bays with steel beams and frames supporting three boarded and glazed pitched roofs.