Brown'S Restaurant And Attached Front Area Walls And Railings

Brown's Restaurant, along with its attached front area walls and railings, was originally built between 1867 and 1871 by Foster and Ponton. It served as a museum, library, and refectory before becoming a restaurant. The building is constructed of yellow brick with red brick decoration and limestone dressings, topped with a pantile hipped roof. It is designed in a Venetian Gothic Revival style.

The main facade is rectangular and open plan, featuring a symmetrical design with steps leading to a ground-floor loggia. The loggia has an arcade of two-centre moulded arches resting on columns with detailed foliate capitals; the outer pair of arches are on octagonal columns. This loggia has been blocked and rendered. Above the loggia is a band of shields, followed by an arcade of alternating large two-centre arches with two orders, glazed with trefoil heads, and narrow, pointed blind statue niches. A band of nailheads sits below a coved cornice and parapet. Inside the loggia are three tall arches on square columns with acanthus capitals, containing flat-headed openings with an ovolo moulding, and round windows above.

The matching left return elevation has nine ground-floor arches containing triple lancets, with round windows above, and seven first-floor arches connected by an impost band of foliate forms. The interior was largely rebuilt around 1950.

Historically, Foster was recognized for the exterior design, which was considered a tribute to John Ruskin. Significant decorative details, including pinnacles and elements of the parapet, were lost due to damage during the Second World War. A single barley-sugar column, originally intended for a corner pinnacle, survives at the rear of the left return. Attached to the building are front area walls and stone railings.