Charter House

Charter House, formerly known as the Old Pearl Buildings, is a substantial office building on Lord Montgomery Way in Landport, Portsmouth. Built in 1889 by architect C W Bovis as Pearl Assurance Offices, it now comprises shops and a public house at ground level.

The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with lavish stone dressings beneath a plain tiled roof. Four ornate stone stacks rise to the right of each of the facing gables. The architectural style is Flemish Renaissance.

The façade extends across 11 bays (arranged 2:1:2:1:2:1:2:1:2:1:2) and rises to four storeys with an attic storey. Each bay is flanked by a stone Doric pilaster with three stone bands. The first floor features stone Corinthian pilasters, while the second and third floors have brick pilasters with stone bands.

On the left (bay 2) and far right (bay 10) are two-leaf glazed doors with screens set under segmental stone arches with keystones and flanking Corinthian pilasters. Each end of these two end bays features a wood-framed and transomed fixed casement under a segmental stone arch with a dropped keystone and vermiculated voussoirs set within a rusticated stone panel. To the right of the left entrance is a three-light transomed casement with lights divided by wood Doric pilasters, a stone sill and apron.

The remaining six bays on the right have been fitted with mid-twentieth-century shop fronts. A stone band with moulded cornice marks the first floor to the far left and to each alternate bay on the right are six paired recessed sashes. Each pair is set under a segmental brick arch with keystone and spaced stone voussoirs, brick jambs with three stone bands, and behind an opening with a stone segmental arch, moulded keystone and flanking pilasters. Stone balustrades sit at sill level. At the centre of bays 4, 6 and 8, each has a stone-framed mullion and transomed tripartite canted bay with fixed casements on the first and second floors, set under round stone arches with casements divided by slim stone Corinthian pilasters. A stone band and dentilled cornice separate the storeys.

On the second floor, each alternate bay from the far left has a tripartite stone transom and mullioned casement set under a flat stone arch with a cerod architrave. On the left (bay 2) and on the right (bay 10) are two-storey tripartite stone bays, bowed to the first floor and canted to the second, each mullioned and transomed with three casements set under round stone arches. The first floor has a stone apron with carved panels, and stone bands and dentilled cornices mark the storeys.

The third floor contains eight paired casements, each set under a flat stone arch with a recessed round intrados, stone jambs and a transom. At the centre of bays 4, 6 and 8, each has a four-light wide casement with pilasters and transom set under a segmental gauged brick arch with moulded keystone and spaced voussoirs.

The attic storey is particularly elaborate. Bays 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 each have a facing gable with elaborate stepped and shaped stone copings including strapwork. The end gables each contain a circular casement with a moulded stone surround. The centre three gables each have a two-light stone mullioned and transomed casement set under a round stone arch. Between each casement is a pyramidal roofed dormer with a two-light casement. At the far left and far right are elaborate octagonal copper-sheathed domes with scalloped sheathing and open cupolas.

The return on the left is set within an acute angle with a narrow bow. The interior has not been inspected.