Princes Street

The passers-by above might be struck by the delightful hemispherical window in Princes Street, accross the road from the Willis building and a few doors from Fred Smith & Co. Very nice gilded details adorn the horizontal above the window and tucked under the overhang on the left is the lettering:
'Geo W Leighton
Architect
1901'
Was this the office of Mr Leighton, or did he sign his building as a painter signs his canvass?
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The untidy alleyway beside the building rather detracts... Unfortunately, since the above shot was taken in June 2004, the frontage has been repainted and the signature made barely visible(lower shot July 2004). Meanwhile, the golden crest is resplendant and further along the two individually-styled golden grotesque masks either side of 'BRITANNIC HOUSE' (enlarged in the inset below).

-R.C. Wrinch ARIBA(photo: Mike O'Donovan)

Mike O'Donovan sends the photograph above right of another 'signed' building:

'R.C. WRINCH
A.R.I.B.A.
ARCHITECT
1906'
These characters cut into the red brick existed somewhere around this Princes Street / Elm Street / Museum Street area in 2008, so the quiz is to find this building!

Only a few doors down from Britannic House towards the junction with Civic Drive is another example of 'lettering over the door'. Beneath the deco-ish frontage overhang, it echoes times past: 'THE EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ASSURANCE CORPORATION LTD.' This is number 34 Princes Street.
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Up the road opposite the junction with Museum Street this fine office block, 'SUN BUILDINGS' stands in relief against a curving cornice, above soaring ionic columns. Below, the solemn faced sun motif sitting on scroll flourishes is a nice touch repeated in the wrought iron balcony trims.
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Sun Buildings faces the old Frasers furniture shop on the corner, later Maples, now offices. Right at the top above the stone swags and vases is the date at which the company was set up, rather than the date of building: 'Established 1833' (below left). This feature is repeated round the corner in Museum Street, facing an even more decorative dated frontage: '1905' (below right).
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Princes Street Bridge
(Photograph courtesy Mike O'Donovan)

Down at the railway end of Princes Street, past the R&W Paul maltings (formerly a night club) we find the plaque on Princes Street bridge. It reads as follows:

'This bridge was erected by the Ipswich County
Borough Council & completed in 1927 replacing
one of wood & iron erected by the Eastern
Counties & Eastern Railway Company
in 1860 when this road was first opened.'

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©2004 Copyright throughout the Ipswich Historic Lettering site: Borin Van Loon
No reproduction of text or images without express written permission