University Of Bristol, Department Of Botany And Attached Walls And Lamps

The University of Bristol's Department of Botany, built in 1880 by CF Hansom and continued in 1889 by E Hansom and FB Bond, is a notable example of collegiate Tudor Revival architecture. Constructed from red Pennant rubble with limestone dressings, it features lateral and ridge stacks, and Welsh slate roofs with bands of round-ended slates. The building has a double-depth plan arranged around three sides of a courtyard.

The main block, a plain L-shaped structure from 1880, stands three stories tall and has a seven-window range. It includes ogee-headed cross windows in two wide, symmetrical, full-height bays, along with strings and a crenellated parapet, and two Tudor-arched doorways. The later right-hand wing is two stories with a basement and has a six-window range, showcasing mullion and transom windows, a cornice with carved heads, and a crenellated parapet.

The left-hand gable faces the courtyard and features windows on either side of an exterior stack. The left-hand gable facing the road is three stories high, with clasping buttresses, three ground-floor windows, and a central Tudor-arched door beneath fan vaulting that supports a canted oriel with narrow flanking windows and a crenellated parapet. A semicircular-arched window is located on the second floor. To the right, a projecting octagonal tower from 1904 includes corner gargoyles and a panelled ashlar parapet. The similar street gable on the right-hand wing also has three stories and features a left-hand stair turret set back, topped with an ashlar spirelet and finial.

Inside, the building mainly consists of plain laboratory and teaching rooms. The attached front entrance walls are characterized by low piers and wrought-iron lamps.