House of Fraser

House of Fraser

This is a department store originally built in the late 19th century for FJ Bright and Son, which later became House of Fraser. The building comprises a principal five-storey block with basements fronting Old Christchurch Road, extended to the rear (south) around 1905 with a four-storey addition to which a fifth floor was added in the mid-20th century. The north and north-east elevations were substantially rebuilt in the 1920s, attributed to the architects Reynolds and Tomlins. The building has undergone various alterations, internal remodelling and refurbishment throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Old Christchurch Road block is steel-framed with ceramic tile cladding and brick to the rear. The rear extension at Gervis Place features iron-framed construction with Vitrolite facing to the ground floor. The roofs are not visible from the street.

The principal façade on Old Christchurch Road presents a symmetrical composition combining Art Deco architecture with neo-classical elements. It features flanking towers at either end with a central section of five bays. All windows are metal casements with stepped glazing bars. The entire façade is clad in cream and buff-coloured ceramic marble tiles manufactured by Carter and Co of Poole, with floors expressed externally through terracotta panels set with sunburst and vaguely Egyptianate motifs in blue and brown faience for each bay. The tall square towers have full-height moulded surrounds with keystones and oculus windows above. Each tower terminates in an octagonal top with pairs of sunburst-decorated panels in blue and brown faience and a stepped domed roof topped by a stumpy finial. Above the ground floor, five bays between the towers are divided by giant pilasters supporting a deep fascia. The two outer pairs of pilasters feature banded rustication with sunburst blocks in place of capitals. A late-20th-century shop front and canopy occupy the ground floor with entrances to bays two and six.

The left return above three floors of The Arcade (a separately listed building incorporated into the department store) is also tile-faced with matching storey heights but simpler design. Tower blocks occupy the corners with simple metal-framed windows and keystones to the lintels, plus a fifth-floor clerestory beneath a sloping roof.

The five-bay elevation to Gervis Place has five storeys, with the upper floor being a 1940s addition extending over the pavement on remodelled columns encased in concrete at ground-floor level. The shop front is set back with an entrance to bay two and service access to bay five, the remaining bays displaying windows with black Vitrolite surrounds framed by anodized metal strips. Flanking pilasters are also faced in Vitrolite with vertical metal strips. The first, second and third floors are fully glazed between iron Corinthian colonnettes with wooden mullioned and transomed windows of three lights (four to the central bay), probably early to mid-20th century. The first and second floors feature spandrels of openwork iron foliage patterns and panelled upstands at sill level to the second and third floors. The short east and west returns are one bay deep and similarly detailed.

Interior floors are open retail spaces except for parts of the top floor accommodating a restaurant and offices. Plant rooms occupy the basement. The retail floors have been refurbished with late-20th and early-21st-century shop fittings, including suspended ceilings that may conceal original plasterwork, floor coverings, display units and counters. Two principal staircases and lifts serve the floors, along with a service stair and goods' lift.

A staircase within a well to the rear left of the Old Christwood Road section houses one lift, featuring timber handrails and square newel posts with streamlined metal balustrades, lit by round-arched metal-framed windows with streamlined leaded lights. Service stairs and goods' lift are positioned to the right.

At the rear right, adjacent to the circa-1905 extension, stands a wide late-19th-century staircase with moulded timber handrail, continuous metal balustrade with enriched pierced decoration, and decorative open strings. Apsed recesses for displays flank the half landings, with plaster cornices and decorative panels to walls and ceilings. A further Art Deco-style staircase with moulded wooden handrail and slender geometric metal railings descends to the lower ground floor. Several late-19th-century cast-iron columns with capitals formed from stylised acanthus leaves remain visible on the ground and first floors, though many have been replaced or encased in modern materials. Some original plaster ceiling panels are also visible.

The late-20th-century enclosed fire escape and modern shop fittings are excluded from the listing's special interest.