15 George Street, Nottingham

Image: © Stephen Richards Taken: 18 Jun 2012

This little gem was built by Watson Fothergill in 1894-95 as his own office. The main figure at the first floor depicts an architect consulting plans - Pevsner wonders if it might be Fothergill himself - and there are busts of Victorian architectural giants Pugin and Street, and panels inscribed with the names of others - Scott, Burges and Norman Shaw. Much more scrumptious detail besides (Image]). Grade II listed. John Sutton has taken many fine close-ups of this building, including: Image], Image] and Image I think it was empty at the time of the photo. Watson Fothergill, or Fothergill Watson as he began life, is Nottingham's Victorian architectural superstar. Walking around the city, it's not long before his idiosyncratic buildings jump out. Drawing on English traditions in a style sometimes labelled as Domestic Revival, his copious use of polychromatic bands of stone, timberwork and carved detail are very distinctive. In lesser hands, a mass of features results in an overwrought jumble, but Fothergill, despite apparently never working outside Nottinghamshire, and rarely even outside the city, was clearly skilled enough to blend everything together successfully. For a full list of his buildings, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-Buildings-of-Watson-Fothergill.

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