Echo Office Building

The Echo Office Building is a Grade II listed office building located on Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, built in 1932 by Seal and Hardy for the "Bournemouth Echo". It features a steel frame with the main elevations clad in Monks Park Bath Stone and is designed in the Art Deco style. The building has a rectangular plan and a main front block that is two storeys high, with a central mezzanine floor that slopes from left to right down Richmond Hill. The façade has a fenestration pattern of 3:1:1:1:1:1:3, with horizontal glazing bars on the metal windows. The central bays are prominently projected forward and upward, culminating in a central tower. The windows are set in recessed panels with curved pilasters, while the bays flanking the tower have vertical recessed panels. The tower features clasped pilasters and three vertical strips of windows, including a central strip adorned with Art Deco chevrons. Above the ground floor, there is a flat-roofed canopy that steps down the hill, which has simpler fenestration. The central doorway is framed by a channelled architrave, and there is a corner doorway at Albert Road with a similar four-window return, including a rounded corner bay. The interior includes notable Art Deco cornicing, a stair hall with a glazed tile dado, and an open-well staircase with a steel handrail and mid-rails that sweep down to a short newel. This building is a significant example of Art Deco office architecture, reminiscent of the contemporary works of Wallis, Gilbert and Partners.