Front elevation of Snow Hill Police Station by Sydney Perks, 1926 (Photo: Quintin Lake)

Snow Hill Police at 5 Snow Hill in the City of London (Photo: Quintin Lake)

Police lanterns at Snow Hill Police Station (Photo: Quintin Lake)

Cornice cut in a Meander pattern and supported by long acanthus brackets at Snow Hill Police Station (Photo: Quintin Lake)

The elegant metal full-height polygonal bay of five windows at Snow Hill Police Station with Guilloche interlace pattern (Photo: Quintin Lake)

Snow Hill Police Station showing City of London plaque to the Saracen's Head, demolished in 1868 (Photo: Quintin Lake)

Snow Hill Police Station, a 24 hour operational station of the City of London Police. The police station was built on the site of the former Saracen’s Head Inn that was demolished in 1868, and a plaque on the wall outside records that fact.

The building merits Grade II Listed Building status, and the English Heritage website page describes it thus:

Police Station. 1926 by Sydney Perks. Stone with lead to bay; roof of slate. Five storeys over basement. Three-window range. All opening flat arched. Noteworthy and unusual blend of Modern and Arts and Crafts style. Banded rustication to ground floor with three doors, those to sides with one sidelight each, that to centre at rear of rectangular recess set under a full-height polygonal bay of five windows with Tuscan pilaster responds and a cornice at the top cut in a Meander pattern and having long acanthus brackets. Running guilloche to ground floor. Plain parapet with coping. Ornaments are judiciously placed to emphasise the simple expanse of masonry and the elegant metal-faced bay. Police lanterns in parapets over side elevations. City of London plaque to the Saracen’s Head, demolished in 1868.

These photographs were commissioned by Thames & Hudson / View Pictures for a book on the architecture of the City of London

View more images of Snow Hill Police Station Here

Photography © Quintin Lake, 2010