Numbers 8-10 Station Road and 2-25 Harris Arcade, Reading

The building comprises numbers 8-10 Station Road, and 2-25 Harris Arcade, Reading, and dates from 1929-1931. It was built for John Harris and incorporates an earlier street frontage of a motor showroom, dating from before 1922, facing onto Station Road. The architecture is in a loosely Greek-Revival style.

The Station Road frontage is stone-built with carved decoration, featuring plate glass windows with bronzed metal surrounds. The arcade’s terrazzo flooring is bordered in black, and the skylights consist of wood and metal framed with stained and clear glass panels. The arcade itself is an irregular L-shape, with a shorter section leading east from Station Road and a longer section running north-south to connect with Friar Street.

The Station Road façade has three principal bays at ground-floor level, the central one serving as the arcade entrance. Wide, panelled pilasters with projecting classical motifs flank the frontage. Slender, panelled pilasters with Ionic capitals are located to either side of the arcade entrance. A narrow bay to the right contains a door leading to a staircase to the upper floors. The entablature above the frontage features a frieze with a central projecting panel displaying stainless steel lettering reading ‘HARRIS ARCADE’. A deep cornice with regularly-spaced square blocks (mutules) sits above.

The arcade threshold at the Station Road entrance is a white marble block with black lettering reading ‘HARRIS ARCADE’. Bowed plate glass windows are positioned on either side. The shop fronts have granite stall risers, plate glass windows, and panelled pilasters; the window surrounds are a combination of base metal and timber, all painted to simulate bronze. A deep transom light above the shop windows incorporates regularly-placed pivoting windows for ventilation. Decorative motifs including guilloche, anthemion mouldings, and paterae are cast into the metal and carved into the wood. Number 25’s shop front features two shallow bow windows with multiple panes on either side of the doorway. Rectangular skylights with raised sides contain stained glass panels of blue, yellow, and clear glass. The arcade passageway widens between numbers 14 and 17, and the change of direction from North-South to East-West occurs in front of number 10.

The shop interiors appear to have been remodelled, containing few original fittings, although suspended ceilings may conceal original features. The upper floors were not inspected.