Imperial Buildings

Imperial Buildings is a late 19th-century commercial building constructed of red brick and terracotta, exhibiting a Free Renaissance style. The three-storey, three-bay facade features a central gable, topped by a parapet adorned with finials and short, fluted pilasters. The centre windows of the second floor extend upwards into the parapet, each topped by a pediment. A large terracotta segmental pediment with an octagonal finial and strapwork panelling surmounts the central window’s pediment. The end bays on the upper floors have sash windows without glazing bars, featuring moulded architraves to their upper sections. A string course runs along the sill level. Giant pilasters, rusticated at the first-floor level, are present on the second and first floors. The central bay on the first floor incorporates a large, three-light canted bay window with a dated parapet from 1898. This window has round-headed lights set within rusticated architraves and keystones. Each end bay on the first floor has a wide, semi-elliptical headed window with a rusticated architrave and keystone. A modern shop front occupies the ground floor. A three-bay cast-iron veranda, with a lean-to roof, extends across the front. The central bay of the veranda is designed as a gabled canopy with cresting along its ridge. The veranda is supported by fluted octagonal columns, and features capitals, spandrils, and cresting.