Guildhall

Guildhall, now offices and an arts centre, was built between 1890 and 1892, designed by George H Hunt for Gloucester City Council. Around 1987, the ground floor was altered for office use, and the upper floors were converted into an arts centre in 1991, with minor subsequent alterations. The building is constructed of ashlar with a slate roof and is in a French Renaissance style.

The building is arranged over three storeys and a basement, with a slight projection to the outer bays (a 1:3:1 arrangement). The ground floor features banded rustication above a chamfered offset plinth and an ashlar course, capped by a moulded string course. A central doorway is set within a projecting frame flanked by panelled pilasters and consoles supporting a hood that is part of the entablature. To either side of the doorway are later display windows. There are doorways in the end bays, each with a raised flat arch, a projecting keystone, and panelled double doors. The first floor, designated as a piano nobile, has an applied, recessed Ionic order to the three central bays, with a recessed entablature and modillion cornice above. The central bays contain large semicircular arched openings framed by pilasters and an archivolt, with French doors and a fanlight leading onto a stone balustraded balcony. A central balcony sits above the ground floor doorway hood. The end bays have large openings with flat mouldings, architraves, and French casements above balustrades. The attic storey is defined by shaped piers supporting a crowning cornice; the central bays each have a circular window with a moulded architrave supported by sculpted putti. The end bays feature slightly projecting centres framed by similar piers and a pediment above the crowning cornice, with a two-light window with sashes framed by architraves. Elaborately carved trophies are positioned on either side of the projections, and the building is topped by a parapet at the cornice level with piers crowned by vases.

The staircase was remodelled around 1930. The principal rooms on the first floor retain original joinery and high-quality plasterwork. The first-floor atrium has a three-bay Ionic colonnade at either end, blank arcades with decorative plaster spandrels, a coffered ceiling, and a mosaic floor. The former council room has a clerestory roof and elaborate joinery and plasterwork.