Minerva House on North Crescent in Camden is a Grade II building that started out as a car showroom and offices for the Minerva Motor Company. They were a Belgian car company operating from 1902 until 1938. It was designed by George Vernon and the building itself dates from around 1912. The logo of the car company was the goddess Minerva – hence the statue of the goddess above the entrance.
Bodlondeb Castle in Llandudno was built as a house in the 1890s for Thomas P Davies. Davies, who was the manager of the local St George’s Hotel, had been commissioned by a rich guest staying at the hotel who wished to remain anonymous to build the castle. However, once he returned after the building had been completed and realised that it didn’t come with a big enough plot of land he declared he was no longer interested and left, leaving Davies with a huge building to try and get rid of. It was unsurprisingly known locally thereafter as Davies’ Folly.
Originally this very impressive lion – made of Coade stone (a type of ceramic stone which is particularly resistant to weathering) – was mounted on top of James Goding’s Lion Brewery building in the 1830s. He was sculpted by William Frederick Woodington and stayed in place until 1949 when the brewery was demolished to make way for the Royal Festival Hall.
Currently the address of a large Foyle’s bookshop, 107 Charing Cross, built in 1938, used to house the college for the Distributive Trades and St Martin’s School of Art.
One of the last remaining Georgian office buildings in this area of London (it can be found on the corner of Cheapside and King Street in the City of London) it was designed in 1836 by Thomas Hopper. He was commissioned by the Atlas Assurance Company, a fire and life insurance company, and took inspiration from classical Italian architecture.
Birmingham City Council House is an imposing building that faces onto Victoria Square. The side of the building which faces Chamberlain Street is part of the Museum and Art Gallery. The land for the building was purchased in 1853 but it wasn’t until 1879 that the building was completed following a competition which Yeoville Thomason’s design won.
The Cunard Building is a Grade II listed building at Liverpool’s Pier Head – with the Royal Liver Building and Port of Liverpool Building it is one of Liverpool’s Three Graces. Construction of the building was commissioned by the Cunard Steamship Company in 1914 and building was completed in 1917.
The Port of Liverpool Building is a Grade II listed building at Pier Head in Liverpool near the Liver Building. Constructed between 1904 and 1907 for 87 years it was the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board head office. It was designed in an Edwardian Baroque style made of Portland stone.
The Royal Liver Building is a Grade I listed building at Liverpool’s Pier Head. In 1907 the Royal Liver Group decided it needed a new headquarters and the Pier Head was chosen with building beginning in 1908 and the official opening taking place in 1911.
The Lloyd’s building, sometimes referred to as the Inside Out Building, for obvious reasons, is the headquarters of the insurers Lloyd’s of London.
