Queen Square House And Attached Front Area Walls And Piers

Queen Square House is an 1889 office building constructed for the Port of Bristol Authority, designed by WV Gough with terracotta work by Gibbs and Canning of Tamworth. It is located on the east side of Queen Square.

The building is constructed of brick with terracotta detailing, marble and Portland stone dressings, a brick gable, axial stacks, and a slate roof. It has a double-depth plan and is executed in a lavish Classical style with a French Empire style roof. The building is two storeys high with a basement and attic, and has a seven-window range with a two-window right-hand extension. The symmetrical front features a central doorway and windows separated by deep pilasters, heavily rusticated on the ground floor. It is characterised by deep cornices, dentil moulding on the first and attic storeys, and modillion moulding on the second floor, topped by a parapet. The central section incorporates ground-floor pilasters that transition to first-floor marble Ionic columns on pedestals. The cornices project over the pilasters, which are capped with urn finials. The main doorway is framed by moulded jambs and acanthus consoles supporting a segmental pediment, set within the cornice, incorporating a cartouche. A 28-panel door is fitted within. Mullion and transom windows, with rounded corners and plate-glass sashes, flank the central bay. A ground-floor sill band incorporates brick panels, while the first floor has panelled jambs to pediments, segmental over the single and outer windows, with timber transoms below stained-glass lights featuring curved balustrades. The attic storey has semicircular arcades set within rectangular recesses, and a tall central dormer with a raised panel and segmental pediment. The gables have curved brackets supporting large panelled stacks above a shallow hipped gable in the middle of the roof, with pierced ridge decoration. Four Portland stone statues depicting women representing the four continents stand on pedestals attached to the first-floor pilasters. The extension has a lower roofline.

The interior features terracotta detailing in the entrance hall, a large rear stairwell with three segmental arches framing a grand imperial staircase with a balustrade, newels ornamented with heraldic beasts, and wainscot panelling. There is a frieze and panelled plaster ceilings, along with panelled oak door reveals and five-panel doors. A first-floor front room has a three-quarter panelled design, fireplaces, and a panelled ceiling.

Attached to the front of the building is a wall with rusticated piers.