Appraisal

Mercer Street Hotel, no. 20, Mercer Street

Occupying a key site on the north-western side of The Dials at the junction of Mercer Street and Monmouth Street, with formal elevations to The Dials and Monmouth Street and a more utilitarian elevation to Mercer Street, the substantially scaled Mercer Street Hotel is the largest building in Monmouth Street and dates from circa 1880. It is built of Suffolk (white) brick with painted stucco dressings including quoins, cornice and window architraves.

Richly modelled, classically detailed, six-storey street-elevations faced in Suffolk brick with painted stone dressings (with two additional, dormered storeys set within steep mansard slopes) extend along Monmouth Street and Mercer Street, rising to seven storeys and one additional storey at the splay-corner fronting The Dials. The main entrance is located at this corner. A prominent cornice runs around the building below the fifth floor level windows, supported at the corner by rusticated pilasters rising through the first, second, third and fourth floor storeys.

The elevations at ground floor level comprise eleven bays of varying width along Monmouth Street (and seven bays of varying width along Mercer Street), set within a framework of plain stone or render, painted midgrey, capped by a cornice. The three, northernmost bays on the Monmouth Street, together with the building above break forward modestly from the eight bays to the south. Each of the openings along each street contains a modern glazed frontage set within subdivided, traditionally detailed timber framing, painted appropriately in dark brown.

The window joinery of the upper floors, including the dormers, is painted white. The external signing of the hotel is modest and discrete, and is limited to sign written lettering on the plain framework above the window and door bays, and two Union Flags to each side of the main entrance fronting The Dials.

The building appears to be in remarkably good condition. Although unlisted, the building is of considerable townscape value, particularly in marking the north-eastern corner of The Dials, contributing positively to the character, appearance and significance of the Seven Dials Conservation Area.

There is only limited scope to enhance the appearance of the building given its present reticent and tasteful state save for the potential provision of flower boxes at first floor level to enliven the utilitarian character of the Mercer Street elevation.