1878 Brewery Building 1878 Brewery Building On South East Side Of Hope Square

This is a brewery building dated 1878, situated on the south-east side of Hope Square in Weymouth. It also extends to Hill Lane. The building is constructed primarily of red Broadmayne and engineering blue bricks in English or Flemish bond, with coursed Portland rubble. The roof is covered with corrugated asbestos-cement.

The building’s design features an ornate front facing Hope Square, with a raised, central gabled section set back from the street, and a broader, pitched roof extending to the south-east. The brick front is divided into four sunk square panels by flat pilasters, with a Lombard band frieze below a moulded stone cornice and brick blocking-course to the parapet coping, which returns approximately 2 metres to Hill Lane. The first bay has a plank door under a flush stone lintel, with a stone plinth and offset. The second bay has a deep loading door with a two-light window under a flat segmental head, positioned approximately 1 metre from pavement level. The third bay features a pair of plank doors, a stone plinth, and boldly modelled shoulders to a stone transom below a tympanum containing decorative stone and brick infill and a stone shield displaying “1(87)8” and “G I” intertwined. Above, and in the fourth bay, is a shallow, deep-set three-light window set within a brick segmental arch.

The return wall to Hill Lane is stepped, with a continuous wall plane and a series of shallow openings near the eaves, featuring brick dressings, bull-nosed sills, cast-iron grilles, and small pierced cast-iron vents. An eaves stack and a paired larger window unit are also present on this return. The left return is rendered and contains three windows and a door, all with brick dressings and bull-nosed sills. The raised central section, acting as a clerestory, is clad and roofed in asbestos cement.

The interior has not been inspected. Historic records indicate this building is part of a notable group of brewery buildings and its detailed front is a prominent feature of Hope Square.