38 Church Street

38 Church Street is a former bank built in 1899 by Barnes and Coates in Hartlepool. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar, with a rusticated ground floor, a slated mansard roof, and four corniced stacks. It occupies an important corner site and is designed in a quasi Baroque style. The structure has three storeys, a basement, and an attic storey.

The principal front, facing Scarborough Street, features eight bays on the ground floor, including a doorway located in the angle of the right-hand corner bay, which is adorned with a relief-ornamented overdoor. To the left of this bay, there is another doorway under an aedicule. The ground floor has two-light transomed windows, with round-headed windows in bays four and five. The upper floor consists of six bays, with the second to fifth bays set back behind a balustraded balcony, and a giant pedimented Corinthian colonnade flanking the third and fourth bays. The first floor has three-light mullioned-and-transomed windows, with quasi Venetian windows in the second and fifth bays, all of which are topped with segmental or triangular pediments and a continuous entablature. The second floor features two-light windows, with round-headed windows in the second and fifth bays. A modillion cornice and parapet with balustraded panels are present above the second and fifth bays. The building also has five flat-roofed dormers with eaves cornices.

The right return, facing Church Street, is similar in design, with upper-floor windows in bays two and three that feature Corinthian pilasters and pediments, along with balustrades between the pedestals. Inside, the banking hall and Manager's office are decorated with plaster wall panelling and moulded and panelled ceilings.