Prudential Assurance

The Prudential Assurance building, located at No 21 Fore Street, is a late 19th to early 20th century structure in the Baroque style, occupying a prominent corner site at the junction with Corporation Street. This two-storey, colourwashed building features a heavily moulded cornice with brackets and balustraded parapets on the left and right elevations. Quoin pilasters with decorative cartouches are present at the eaves, and there is a band over the ground floor.

A bay window at the corner is topped by an octagonal open turret, which has a cornice and a curved pyramidal roof, complete with an openwork wrought-iron finial and weather-vane. The façade includes round-headed arches with keystones, a floriated frieze at the cornice level, and a large three-light oriel window on the first floor. There are two windows on the left side and three on the right, all featuring architrave surrounds, pulvinated friezes, and pediments. The windows are sash style, with some retaining glazing bars.

The ground floor has a large window with a voluted keystone on either side, and a bull's eye window with a swag further to the right. The entrance is located beneath the angled oriel and is framed by a shouldered architrave surround. Above the door, there is a clock flanked by cartouches, and the entrance features double wooden doors.

This building forms an important group with other listed buildings in the area, including No 1A Billet Street, No 66 The County Hotel, the Brendon Bar, and No 8 East Street.