Queen's Buildings, Cardiff University

Queen's Buildings at Cardiff University is a striking collegiate Gothic structure comprising a five-storey Perpendicular style tower with an adjoining four-storey teaching block on its right side, all constructed in Bath stone ashlar with period detailing throughout.

The tower's bold architectural presence is established by its recessed openings set between large clasping buttresses, each opening topped by a moulded two-centre arch. The arch spandrels feature diamond panels bearing the date "AD 1915" in relief. A moulded cornice runs below the parapet, which displays four narrow arched openings and terminates in a moulded saddleback coping. The buttresses themselves are enriched with two-tier caps incorporating polygonal shafts at their angles and shallow relief foliage. The main arch features label stops in the form of square panels set into the buttresses, again with foliage in shallow relief. Foundation tablets face the entrance steps on the lower storey; the right-side tablet commemorates the building's opening by Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1921.

The ground floor entrance is framed by a substantial three-bay portal composed of elliptical arches with blind ogee gables and carved diamond finials. Two freestanding round columns, each carrying capitals inscribed with Greek relief lettering, support statues of Hippocrates and Asclepius in canopied niches. The outer responds are polygonal with foliage capitals. Above the arches are sculpted busts of nineteenth-century physicians—Pasteur, Lister, Hunter, and Jenner—in the outer bays, with heraldic shields centred. The central doorway features double doors with vertical ribs, iron strap hinges, and relief-moulded foliage at the top, with a mullioned overlight beneath an elliptical arch. Flanking windows contain two round-headed mullioned lights beneath elliptical heads.

The elevation above the entrance portal displays three-light mullioned windows with similar two-light flanking windows, framed by clustered intermediate shafts with gabled offset in the third storey. Rich broad bands of relief foliage separate the storeys, incorporating blank oval tablets and shields. The second and third storeys have flat-headed windows, while the fourth storey features arched lights. The fifth storey contains pointed windows enriched with blind Decorated tracery lights decorated by foliage in relief and blank shields. Spandrels throughout are similarly decorated with relief foliage.

The asymmetrical teaching block on the right is constructed of brick with Ham stone dressings behind a plain ashlar parapet, rising four storeys with basement. Its most prominent feature is a full-height ashlar double canted bay positioned right of centre, which alone has an openwork parapet. A rich freestone cornice of relief foliage carries sculpted animals over rainwater heads. An ashlar band separates the ground and second storeys. Three-light mullioned windows predominate across all storeys and basement, with arched lights in the upper storey. The canted bay features pairs of two-light mullioned windows in each storey, also under arched heads at the upper level. Shallow buttresses flank the bay, displaying blind panelling in the second storey beneath gablets.

The block has been extended eastward by a wing added between 1987 and 1993. On the left side of the tower stands a wing added in 1964 when the tower itself was rebuilt behind its original facade. This 1964 wing comprises four storeys and basement with flat roof, constructed using a reinforced concrete frame with closely spaced full-height columns that echo the vertical emphasis of the main tower. The infill consists of glazed and fluted steel panels. Additional structures have been added to the rear of the teaching block.

The interior of the tower was substantially reworked in 1964 by Sir Percy Thomas, whose name is engraved in the marble wall panels. The ground floor windows retain original stained glass featuring heraldic shields and roundels in the tracery lights dated 1915 and 1918. The teaching block retains an original spine corridor with fielded wood panelling to the walls and keyed oculi above. At the eastern end of this corridor stands an open-well stair with plain balusters and hand rail.