1 Albert Road

Bank and manager's house built between 1872 and 1873, designed by GG Hoskins of Darlington, with alterations made in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The building is constructed in sandstone ashlar with granite colonettes and Cumberland blue slate roofs. It occupies a prominent corner site with views from Exchange Place and Exchange Square. The principal elevation faces east onto Albert Road and Exchange Square, while the north elevation faces Zetland Road. The south elevation, which faces Brunswick Street, is overshadowed by the A66 flyover.

The design follows the French Gothic style. The Albert Road elevation comprises two storeys and four bays, with a slightly projecting gabled porch at the left end bay. The entrance features renewed and partially glazed double doors beneath a shouldered lintel, above which is a quatrefoil in a pointed overlight within a surround of four moulded orders on responds and pilasters with carved capitals. The porch is topped by a fleur-de-lys finial. To the right are pointed sash windows in similar surrounds but of two orders. The sills are battered and enriched with recessed aprons, and ornate wrought iron grilles appear on the ground floor windows. First-floor windows are similar but without grilles.

The building features a chamfered plinth, string courses between floors and impost bands, the latter decorated on the ground floor. A bracketed eaves cornice supports a shallow hexagon-ornamented parapet with moulded copings, flanking two gabled dormers with similar windows, surrounds and finials. The steeply pitched hipped French pavilion roofs have spirelet finials and a central half-hipped ventilation gablet.

The former manager's house adjoins to the left. It is three storeys and two bays, with the left bay canted over three floors and projecting at ground floor level. The windows are moulded mullioned-and-transoms with string courses between the floors. The corbelled eaves cornice is surmounted by a roof similar to the adjoining former bank, featuring three stacks with octagonal shafts in groups of two and three.

The Brunswick Street return of the former manager's house comprises three bays, with the right bay blind. Modern roller shutters cover the ground floor central bay, which contains a door inserted through a former window. To the rear is a service yard containing a heavily modified former coal shed and outdoor toilet range. The south elevation of the former bank is partially obscured by a modern staircase extension and fire escape. At first floor level is a moulded mullioned-and-transomed stair window positioned to the left of four sashes in moulded surrounds. Above is a moulded eaves cornice and two rectangular stacks with corbelled projecting battered caps.

The Zetland Road elevation facing north comprises nine bays in a style similar to the east elevation, although the two-bay ends project slightly forward. The right end bay features an entrance door matching that on Albert Road. On the first floor, the two bay ends have projecting bracketed sills with polished granite nook shafts to the window surrounds. A plain parapet rises above the central five bays. Three transverse ridge stacks feature ornamented bands and corbelled projecting battered caps.

The interior has been altered but retains moulded window architraves throughout and a cast-iron fireplace in the former manager's parlour. The rear room now functions as a commercial kitchen, with 20th-century panelling retained behind modern wall linings. Modern ceilings conceal moulded cornices. A barred strong room door by Chubb of 128 Victoria Street, London, has been retained, though possibly relocated.

The entrance from Zetland Road remains largely unaltered. The entrance lobby has a geometric tiled floor, ashlar walls and a timber panelled ceiling. Panelled double doors with flanking side-panels and a pointed overlight within a stone arch lead into the hall, which also features a geometric tiled floor beneath a Gothic arch. The hall contains an open string staircase with stone treads and moulded skirting. The heavy newel posts have square-section upper halves with scalloped edges resting upon twisted stems. The lower newel has lost its decorative cap. A heavy mahogany handrail is supported on decorative cast-iron balusters. Above the half landing is a tall stair window, currently blocked. The first floor, though knocked through to create a large entertainment space, retains moulded window architraves with panelled skirts, Gothic arches and deeply moulded cornices.