page_title: Alfred Waterhouse
section_title: Prudential Assurance Company
hierarchical_section_title: Alfred Waterhouse / London practice (1865–1902) / Prudential Assurance Company
caption_attribution_description: English: At 11 King Street, Nottingham. By Alfred Waterhouse
context_page_description: Alfred Waterhouse RA PPRIBA was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his design for Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in London, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the country. Besides his most famous public buildings he designed other town halls, the Manchester Assize buildings—bombed in World War II, and the adjacent Strangeways Prison. He also designed several hospitals, the most architecturally interesting being the Royal Infirmary Liverpool and University College Hospital London. He was particularly active in designing buildings for universities, including both Oxford and Cambridge but also what became Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds universities. He designed many country houses, the most important being Eaton Hall in Cheshire, largely demolished in 1961-63. He designed several bank buildings and offices for insurance companies, most notably the Prudential Assurance Company. Although not a major church designer he produced several notable churches and chapels.
context_section_description: The Prudential Assurance Company founded in 1848, was growing rapidly by the 1870s, and adopted a policy of constructing custom-built offices with speculative office development Waterhouse's first commission for the company were the headquarters building the first phase of Holborn Bars (1876–79) on the corner of Brooke Street (this phase was replaced in 1932) built on the site of Furnival's Inn, initially the capacity was for 500 clerks. The building would expand in three more phases up to 1901 by which time it filled the entire block. Phase 2 (1885–88) extensions on Brooke Street and Greville Street, phase 3 (1895) the north range of the main courtyard, phase 4 (1897-1901) was the main entrance block along High Holburn, this contains the grand interiors that use Burmantoft's faience the elaborate Directors' Staircase has mosaic and terrazzo floors, it leads to the first floor board room with elaborate wood panelling. This final phase resulted in a building with a footprint of 2.5 acres, and used 1,500 tons of steel framing provided by Handyside. The steel columns allowed open interiors. The columns were clad in faience. The most opulent of the offices were the Cashiers Office and Public Office located on the ground floor behind the main facade.
  The cost of the phases were: phase 1 £144,940, phase 2 £20,455 plus £6,765 for alterations to the existing building; phases 3 & 4 £150,155, (in total approx £37,000,000 in 2019). The contractors for the building work were Holland & Hannen; structural steel work by J.S. Bergheim; heating and ventilation by W.W. Phipson & D.O. Boyd; the terracotta was manufactured by Gibbs & Canning; granite stonework was laid by Farmer & Brindley, who in conjunction with F. W. Pomeroy, also provided the models for the terracotta decoration, namely the frieze of cherubs that runs around the building below the first floor windows and the decoration and statue over the entrance arch; ceramic tiles by W.B. Simpson; the decorative faience tiles were by Burmantofts, used in the entrance halls, on the main staircase and in the offices used by members of the public; the chimney-pieces were provided by W.H. Burks; internal decoration was by L. Liberty & Co.; furniture and fittings were manufactured by H, Capel, Glouster Wagon Company, and Maple & Co.; decorative ironwork was manufactured by Hart Son Peard & Co. The Building News of 8 April 1878 described the new building:
  We have here then a building which presents some commendable features, and which may challenge, without exaggerated pretensions, many costlier buildings in the same thoroughfare of brick and stone. It marks a more sensible use of the material terracotta than we have been accustomed to see since Mr Christian gave us the front of the Economic Assurance Office in Bridge Street, Blackfriars. We have generally had to complain of a redundant use of enrichment, a mechanical monotony in the setting and distribution, that has greatly injured the reputation of the material as one of the most natural we possess, and one that will resist the elements besides acids and alkalis."
  Between 1876 and 1901 he would go onto design buildings for the Prudential not just their headquarters but a further twenty-one offices at towns and cities throughout Britain, Paul Waterhouse would design further buildings for the company after his father retired. The sites for the buildings were often awkward and hemmed in, but had to include a large public office, space for the clerks and separate offices for the managers. The public offices and managers rooms were normally at the front of the buildings on the ground floor. The buildings also had separate chambers that were leased to other businesses, for example the Leeds office had twenty different occupiers. An early restaurant chain Ye Mecca leased basement space in the Prudential buildings at Nottingham, Leeds and Birmingham. The buildings were built to a standard form, with polished grey granite base, most are built from hard red terracotta and brick, Newcastle and Glasgow use stone and brick. while Edinburgh and Dunde
caption: Prudential Assurance, Nottingham (1893–98) grey granite base, red brick and terracotta walls, the decoration is more elaborate than normal
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