Central Chambers

Central Chambers is a terrace of five shops and offices located on Park Street in Bristol, built between 1867 and 1872 by architect W.H. Hawtin. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar and brick, with limestone dressings on the sides and party wall stacks. It has a double-depth plan, rising four storeys above a two-storey basement, and features a ten-window range.

The facade is elaborately designed with a near-symmetrical arrangement. The right-hand block has three windows and is lower than the left-hand block, which has two windows set back. The 20th-century shop fronts are divided by square piers with foliate capitals, and there is an early 20th-century shop front at Nos. 12 and 14 that includes bowed glass and a plaster ceiling. Architectural details include a cornice on the first floor, sill bands on the second and third floors, a string course on the fourth floor, and a dentil cornice that ramps down to the right-hand block.

The central section features tripartite windows with elaborate architraves and moulded surrounds. The first-floor windows are semicircular-arched with granite dressings, while the outer sections on the second floor have segmental heads, and the remaining windows are flat-headed. The central second-floor section and the first floor of the right-hand section have pediments. The right return of the building, which faces Frogmore Street, drops down two storeys and is made of coursed Pennant rubble, featuring a 2:3 window arrangement with similar surrounds to the front.

Inside, there is a flight of steps with a wreathed rail and a cast-iron newel, leading to an upper rear open-well stair.