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Listing: 1902. By Essex, Nichols and Goodman. Edwardian
Baroque Style.
Awards: Wolverhampton Environmental Awards, 2000, Winner.
Comment: "Edwardian Baroque" seems a good enough label to apply to
this building, though "a bit of everything" might also serve. The last but one
building to be built on that side of Lichfield Street in the great re-building.
The main entrance to the building is the rather
squat round headed archway, to the right in the top photo. But
the panel above the arch is graced by this panel in glazed
terracotta by Carters of Poole. The initials in the left and
centre roundels are RLFS - Royal London Friendly Society. It changed
its name to Royal London Mutual in about 1908. The date in the right roundel is 1902.
The building is now known as the Royal London
Building. It was refurbished in 2000 to provide flats on the
upper floors and the exterior was cleaned up. The upper
floor flats are with the Heantun Housing Association. But the
site owners
seem to have had a problem keeping the ground floor shops in decent
order.
The building has a curious claim to fame: the
tailor, Snape, who used to occupy one of the shops, made Norman
Wisdom's stage suits.
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