247, Fratton Road

No. 247 on Fratton Road is a church institute that later became the Victory radio station and is now the Portsmouth Housing Association offices. It was built between 1899 and 1907 by Sir R. Blomfield. The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond and features a steep plain tiled roof with a stone-coped brick stack on the right.

The exterior is two storeys high with seven bays, although the first bay is blinded. The far right bay projects and has stone rusticated quoins. At the center, there is a 20th-century double door flanked by pilasters, with shaped brackets supporting a flat corniced hood. This is accompanied by two narrow side casements, all set under a round gauged brick arch with stone springers and a keystone. To the left and right of the central door are two 24-pane sash windows, each positioned under a flat gauged brick arch with a keystone.

Prominent full-height brick piers are located on the left quoin, between the windows and between the door and window, each featuring hollowed stone coping. A stone band and projecting plinth are situated below the sill level. The first floor has five 16-pane sash windows, each with a segmental gauged brick head and set under a pier-to-pier segmental gauged brick arch. The far left bay is blinded and has a stone band aligned with the adjacent window arch springers. The building has bracketed projecting eaves.

At the center of the roof, there is a cupola with a square rusticated base, circular windows on each side with heavy moulded surrounds, and an entablature with angled corners supported by Doric columns. Each side of the cupola has a 12-pane casement, topped with a copper dome and finial. The far right projecting bay features a 20-pane circular window on the first floor, set within a gauged brick surround with a keystone, and a stone band at the center of the window level, topped with a fascia hipped roof.

The left return of the building has a facing stone-coped gable with acroteria at the corners and apex, two 24-pane sash windows, and a Venetian window on the first floor within the gable, which is also supported by Doric columns and an entablature. The interior has not been inspected.