Prominent Plymouth city centre building returned to glory
One of the city centre’s most prominent buildings has had a facelift. The landlords of Pearl Assurance House on the corner of Armada Way and Royal Parade have used a grant of up to £49,900 towards the cost of cleaning the façade of this imposing 1950s building as well as carrying out repair work.
The upper floors are being cleaned across a total of 14 shop frontages. The grant offer relates to all floors of the building facing onto Armada Way, Royal Parade and Courtenay Street.
Decades of grime and dirt, together with algae has been cleaned off revealing the light Portland Stone that was widely used in the post-war rebuild of the city centre. The spring clean is part of Historic England’s High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) for Plymouth. So far, it has funded work to facades across 16 frontages on Old Town Street / New George Street and £86,000 to repair The Athenaeum, where work has also been completed.
Both the Pearl Assurance building and Dingles were built as cornerstones to Armada Way, and were designed to reflect the height and scale of the nearby Plymouth Guildhall. The Pearl Assurance building is more decorative than Dingles, with embellished columns and carved stonework.
The plympton[1]>Plymouth City Centre[2] High Street Heritage Action Zone programme – ‘Reinvigorating the Abercrombie Estate’ – is a four-year programme celebrating, enhancing and adapting the city centre’s post-war heritage and making it a more attractive, engaging and vibrant place for people to live, work and spend time.
The Heritage Action Zone project is managed by Plymouth City Council[3] and Plymouth Culture, with support from The Box and Plymouth Octopus Project. It’s part of a £95 million government-funded programme which is being delivered by Historic England to unlock the potential of 60 different high streets across the country.
On Twitter[4], Plymouth City Council said: “What a difference a good clean-up makes! The covers are off, and the imposing Pearl Assurance House is clean and gleaming, thanks to work being carried out in partnership with Historic England[5].”
References
- ^ plympton (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
- ^ Plymouth City Centre (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
- ^ Plymouth City Council (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
- ^ Twitter (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
- ^ Historic England (twitter.com)