University Of Bristol, Department Of Chemistry

This is a university department building constructed in 1909, designed by Sir George Oatley. Originally listed as the University of Bristol, Department of Chemistry, it has undergone name and address changes and is now known as The Fry Building (School of Mathematics). The building is constructed of coursed red Pennant rubble with limestone ashlar dressings, lateral stacks, and a Cornish slate roof. It follows an L-shaped double-depth plan and is designed in a Collegiate Tudor Gothic Revival style.

The building's form is an irregular series of stepped blocks, featuring a moulded plinth, strings, a cornice with carved heads, corner gargoyles, and a crenellated parapet. The left-hand section rises three stories with a 3:1:3 window arrangement separated by buttresses, incorporating wide mullion and transom windows. A small, Arts and Crafts style gable, slate-hung with swept eaves and small leaded dormers, tops this block. To the right is a two-story canted bay with a parapet. An entrance tower, set within a re-entrant angle, is two stages high. It has clasping buttresses with panelled tops and a projecting ashlar doorcase featuring an elliptical-arched doorway leading to a studded oak two-leaf door, set below a two-centred arched window with cusped blind spandrels. Above the doorway is a two-story oriel with a moulded base, ogee heads, ashlar tracery panel, and a blind tracery parapet. The tower’s upper section has an elliptical-arched cross window beneath a band of quatrefoils and cornice with carved heads, topped by a carved panel with a shield set within stepped crenellations. A three-sided, two-story bay is situated in the re-entrant angle, adjacent to a square stair turret. The right-hand wing extends back, providing a six-window range, with the right half projecting forward.

The interior entrance hall features two-centred arches with panelled soffits, alongside three facing arches leading to staircases and a central lift.