IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Thurland Street, NOTTINGHAM, NG1 3BT

It was a bright May morning in The Queen of the Midlands and I couldn't resist adding another close-up of this delightfully extravagant building, showing its carved bargeboards and leaded lights more clearly than in my other contributions to this gridsquare. See Image], among others, to put this close-up in context.

A spectacular mixture of styles, like all of his buildings. For close-ups, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1747445 , http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1747434 , http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1747426 and http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1747419 .

Nottingham's most distinctive Victorian architect autographed his offices, above the left-hand door. For the whole of this splendidly florid building, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1443245 . For another signature, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1408957 .

Details of the facade of the offices of Nottingham's most distinctive Victorian architect, Watson Fothergill. On the left is the figure of a medieval architect, and above the first-floor windows busts of two architects Fothergill admired, A W N Pugin and G E Street. The names of three more architects, George Gilbert Scott, William Burges and Norman Shaw, are incised to the right of the first-floor windows. For a view of the whole remarkable building, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1443245 .

The frieze is one of four terra-cotta panels showing the building of classical, medieval and Elizabethan buildings. In this one, labourers or quarrymen are at work on a gothic cathedral whose towers appear in the background on the extreme left. Ornate leaded windows are typical of Fothergill's remarkable and eclectic style. For a view of the whole building, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1443245 .

The offices he built for himself exemplify Fothergill's eclectic Bavarian-Romanesque-Renaissance-chateau style. The polychromatic brick, dark timbering, leaded lights, curly finials and heavy carved bargeboards are features of other Fothergill buildings in the city. Above the first-floor windows are busts of the architects A W N Pugin and G E Street, in homage to two of Fothergill's mentors. There is also a large statue of a medieval architect. "Perhaps this figure," wrote Ken Brand in his Nottingham Civic Society monograph on Fothergill, "with a bundle of plans in his hands and at his feet a model of a Gothic Cathedral, was how Fothergill saw himself." For a view of the whole of this building, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1443245 .

A mischievous carved imp above the oriel window on the fantastical facade of Fothergill's offices. The bands of fine red and blue bricks, combined with pale stone, are characteristic of Fothergill's style. "They will return to this [Gothic] style," he said. "No other furnishes such an inexhaustible mine of novelties."

The carved bust is of one of Fothergill's architectural heroes, G E Street. The names of three others, George Gilbert Scott, William Burges and Norman Shaw, are incised on the right. The intricate leaded lights and fine banded brickwork are characteristic of Fothergill's later work.

One of four terra cotta panels on the front of the building, below the first-floor windows, this one depicts Elizabethan architects and craftsmen - possibly Robert Smythson at work on nearby Wollaton Hall, which the building on the right of the panel resembles.

One of four terra-cotta panels on the facade, below the first-floor windows, this one depicts medieval builders hard at work on some gothic arches. The fine banded brick is characteristic of Fothergill.