8 Plymouth Road

The building at 8 Plymouth Road is an imposing structure of nine bays, with three storeys and four to the centre bays, built over a basement. It is constructed from grey-brown Pennant stone with Bath stone dressings, incorporating 16th-century Flemish-style reliefs in the pediments. Half-timbering is present on the second floor. The roofs are slate, with some replacement sections, and the building features yellow and red brick chimneys and quoins.

The central section of the elevation has an additional attic storey, with bold splayed dormers flanking a three-light dormer featuring a shaped pediment. The second floor has a three-light window centrally positioned, flanked by semi-hexagonal bays. Beyond these, to each side, are a splayed dormer, a narrow gable, and a rectangular end block with a semi-hexagonal bay window under a splayed roof. The first floor mirrors this arrangement with a central three-light window and broken pediment, flanked by semi-hexagonal bays with segmental pediments. To either side of these are similar bays, followed by a narrow segmentally-headed window and another similar bay.

The ground floor features a central porch with stairs leading up to Mannerist fluted Doric pillars with annulets, a parapet, and a segmental pediment bearing the inscription “Lansdowne” in the frieze. A cambered entrance doorway leads to panelled double doors with glazing above. The porch is flanked by bay windows with triangular pediments. To the left of the front is a similar, narrower bay, followed by a segmentally headed door. Adjacent to this door is a single-storey projecting bank front, constructed of Bath stone with a parapet and six bays articulated by tapering fluted pilasters. It has three-centred arches to its windows and doorway, topped with a pediment displaying the date ‘1833’. To the right of the main block, three ground floor bays form a projecting restaurant and hotel front, retaining some features reminiscent of the bank front, such as fluted pilasters and a pediment with the date ‘1886’.

Side elevations include projecting gabled bays; a single-storey porch was once present on the right elevation, but has since been demolished on the left.

The rear elevation presents a similar design. The central block features smaller polygonal bays with splayed roofs on either side of groups of three windows on each floor. Lower polygonal bays with splayed roofs flank the central block, and beyond these are corner blocks set forward. The roofs have triangular dormers; the left roof has a pyramidal roof at an angle, which is no longer present on the right roof.