City Museum And Art Gallery And Attached Front Walls

The City Museum and Art Gallery, along with its attached front walls, was built between 1899 and 1904, designed by Sir F Wills. It is a building of group value, recognised for its high architectural and historic significance. Constructed from limestone ashlar, the building is rectangular, comprising two main sections. It is an example of the Edwardian Baroque style.

The monumental front elevation features a deeply projecting central section that incorporates a porte cochere. The facade is characterised by vermiculated quoins, a modillion cornice, and a parapet. The central section has a rock-faced plinth, vermiculated ground floor, and a plat band. Flanking columns rise from the first floor to a pediment, surmounted by an outer balustrade and a central pedestal displaying Beaux Arts statuary. A half-domed, five-light mullion bow is located centrally on the first floor, featuring an inscribed panel acknowledging the gift of Sir Henry William Wills and a carving of the city arms. Relief carvings depicting artists' palettes are positioned on either side. Semicircular-arched, three-light mullion windows with stained glass are on either side, and swagged panels are situated above.

The porte cochere has semicircular arches on the front and sides, with coved reveals and keystones leading to a vaulted interior. A semicircular-arched doorway with coved reveals, a cartouche inscribed 1902, and a pair of half-glazed doors are centrally located. Side windows are three-light with moulded lintels, and festoon panels adorn the tops of the outer windows.

Inside, the museum comprises two large halls with barrel-vaulted glazed roofs, separated by a double staircase. The front hall, six bays long and three wide, features a balcony supported by carved figure brackets, an arcade leading to the roof, and reliefs of painters' names within swagged panels. An imperial stair is accessed through an arched screen with Corinthian columns leading to a second-floor balustrade, supported over a first-floor balcony by marble columns. Behind this is a further stair with paired columns and a Diocletian window. The rear hall, four bays long, features a ground-floor arcade of segmental arches, a Doric frieze, and a first-floor arcade with paired Corinthian columns separated by semicircular arches on marble columns, culminating in a balustrade. Each end terminates in a Venetian arch under a Diocletian window.

Attached rock-faced walls to the front incorporate four lanterns on pedestals. The building, funded by Sir H Wills, represents Bristol’s sole major public building of the period and possesses a well-lit interior designed to complement the grandeur of the facade; it is described as a "free Baroque design of magnificent proportions."