Description: Viewed from Nottingham Castle. The Nottingham Canal runs along the back of this building. It was formerly Burton-Alton's and the architect was Watson Fothergill. Born Fothergill Watson ( he changed his name to Watson Fothergill in 1892 ) in Mansfield, Notts. in 1841 and practised as an architect in Nottingham from about 1870 to 1912. His style was a picturesque mixture of Old English, Germanic Medieval and Scottish Baronial - it was definitely Gothic Revival - and was greatly influenced by Pugin, Scott and Norman Shaw. His buildings show the structural polychromy much written about by Ruskin; they have horizontal bands of red and blue brick, sometimes bands of stone also. He often used heavy black timber too for eaves, barge boards and balconies. The quality of brick used as well as brick laying itself was always high. Elaborate stone carving, turrets, little towers and pinnacles along with his use of red and black make his buildings easy to identify. Fothergill built many buildings in and around Nottingham, including perhaps 30 private houses in The Park Estate. In fact, most of Fothergill's numerous commissions were in and around Nottingham. However he worked outside of the town and completed works in Mansfield, Retford, Burton Joyce and Bulcote, and Sydenham in Kent. Fothergill was a keen traveller, making many tours of Europe, he was an avid art lover and had a large collection of works of art. He was also a great cricket fan. He died in 1928 at the age of 87 and is buried in the Church Cemetery, Mansfield Road Nottingham.