The Arcade

This entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 15 November 2022 to change numerals to words, to remove section numbers from description, to correct typos, to remove references to adjacent unlisted building and to reformat to current standards.

5186

SZ 0891 13/132

OLD CHRISTCHURCH ROAD (South Side)

The Arcade [Nos 1 to 22 (consec) and Nos 22A, 23 and 23A] No 28

1.8.74.

II

GV

1886-73, Henry Joy (builder), of stucco in Regency style. Facades to Old Christchurch Road and Gervis place flanked by three-storey rotundas ('pepper pots') which have lost their original stilted metal-roofed domes: Corinthian pilasters and dentil cornice to 1st floor, Tuscan and plainer cornice (with blocking course) to 2nd. Between them, tripartite entrances remodelled circa 1935, with glazed facade above to semi-circular gable: radiating half-wheel of arched glazing bars, projecting forward on Gervis Place front, over miniature glazed arcade, 2nd tier of wheel arches enclosed by dentil cornice of gable. Gervis Place front includes three bays of shopping frontage to east and four to west, also stucco, at west end Bright's Staff Entrance has pilasters and entablature. Old Christchurch Road front has one bay of stucco shops to east, two to west.

Interior has one good Victorian shop front (Peter Roberts, formerly William and Treadgold); arched glazing bars, flanking pilasters and console brackets carrying miniature coupled pilasters and pediment panel, fascia with dentil cornice and rich openwork cresting rising in centre. Most upper windows of plain Georgian shape, but some are recessed canted oriels. Moulded cornice supports iron arch-braced roof of 1872-3 with steeply pitched lantern.

The Arcade [Nos 1 to 23A (consec)], No 28 with House of Fraser, and Gervis Hall (Hornes), Gervis Place form a group.