19–21 Sankey Street, Warrington

The building has three storeys and is in Gothic Revival style.[1] As originally built, the ground floor consisted of carved stone piers and arcading. The remaining upper storeys are constructed in red sandstone with dressings of lighter-coloured stone.[3] The middle storey contains one three-light and three two-light windows. Over each light is a pointed arch supported by a free-standing polished granite column.[1] The voussoirs over each arch consist of stones of alternating red and a lighter colour.[4] The top storey has four two-light windows, similar to those in the middle storey, but simpler in design. Between the two storeys is a carved frieze.[1] Along the top of the frontage is an elaborate corbelled cornice.[4]

Douglas' biographer, Edward Hubbard, was of the opinion that the design of the building was influenced by the writings of John Ruskin and George Gilbert Scott, particularly in the use of polychromy.[5] He considered that it was "in its way one of the best thing he [Douglas] ever did, and it would be difficult to better it as an example of mid-Victorian street architecture".[6] The authors of the Buildings of England series state that it has "a High Victorian Gothic façade of the most refined kind",[7] and consider that it is one of Douglas' "very best works".[8]