British Home Stores, 64 Princes Street

This is a four-storey and basement, rectangular, purpose-built retail store constructed between 1964 and 1968 by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners, with Kenneth Graham as partner-in-charge, A D Gracie as architect, and Ove Arup as consultant engineers. A later extension was added in 1971/2 by the same practice, led by Ian M T Samuel, with a second-floor enclosed walkway connecting it to Rose Street South Lane. Service entrances are located on Rose Street Lane South. The building is faced with smooth York stone, features copper cladding, and utilizes anodised aluminium framing.

The facade is characterised by tall, blank stair towers faced with York stone, flanking a central section with extensive glazing. The ground floor entrance is deeply recessed under a projecting blue-black Bon Accord polished granite fascia bearing incised lettering for "BRITISH HOME STORES". A first-floor walkway, also glazed, continues the granite fascia. The second and third floors are expressed as projecting box forms faced with white polished Creetown granite, set within an anodised aluminium curtain walling system, punctuated by regularly placed vertical windows. The fourth floor is recessed, featuring extensive copper cladding and horizontal glazing. The roof slopes inward to a central square, incorporating a terraced garden with continuous timber-framed glazing. Clerestory windows face outwards. A two-storey, rectangular block extends to the rear.

The interior features open-plan floor plates supported by six large, shuttered concrete pillars. Main circulation is centrally located at the north end, with escalators alongside wide stairs leading to the basement. Original terrazzo treads have been covered with later marble tiling. A return flight of stairs to the first floor has been removed. The second-floor stock rooms have a moulded concrete ceiling in a honeycomb pattern. The third floor, previously used for food preparation and storage, is extensively tiled. Deep timber-clad beams and a ceiling express the inward-sloping pitched roof construction. An open-plan common room, preserved with original floor and wall coverings and some original light fittings, is located to the east. Meeting rooms and offices, in a Scandinavian style, are situated to the north and west. A plywood-panelled circulation staircase with narrow gauge metal handrails is found to the southwest.