Former Midland Bank

Former Midland Bank

A former bank building constructed in 1901 and 1903, designed by the architects H Barnes and Coates of Hartlepool for the York City and County Banking Co Ltd. Originally listed as the Midland Bank and also known as Commerce House, the building has been refurbished as offices.

The building occupies a prominent corner site in a roughly rectangular plan. The main entrance faces south onto Exchange Square, with a secondary entrance elevation facing west onto Exchange Place.

The exterior is constructed in Aberdeen pink granite set on a black granite plinth, with wrought iron grilles to the ground floor. The upper floors and both recessed end bays are faced in sandstone ashlar. A copper lantern crowns the flat asphalt roof, with brick stacks.

The design is in the sumptuous Edwardian Baroque style, comprising three storeys with attics.

The south elevation facing Exchange Square contains seven bays plus a slightly recessed right end bay and a chamfered left-angle bay. Three steps rise to a centrally placed entrance with recessed renewed double doors topped by a blind fanlight in a keyed rusticated surround, the fanlight itself protected by a wrought iron grille. Above stands a blind oculus in an enriched surround inscribed with the word "BANK", which breaks into a tympanum within a keyed open-segmental pediment supported on consoles enriched with escutcheons. The ground floor features recessed fixed-light windows with short iron grilles and curved aprons, flanked by broad rusticated pilasters that support the entablature, which carries a renewed sign in the right-hand frieze. A blocking course with balustraded panels runs below the first-floor windows.

On the first floor, windows are framed by alternately segmental open-pedimented Roman Ionic surrounds with enriched tympana. An enriched escutcheon dated "1904" is positioned above the architrave of the first-floor window within the chamfered corner bay. The second floor displays eared and shouldered architraves beneath escutcheons. All windows contain casements.

The enriched cornice of the top entablature forms gables above scrolled carved architraves of attic oculi, which pierce the frieze in the first, fourth and seventh bays. A balustraded parapet crowns the composition.

The right end bay contains three steps leading to a part-glazed door with sidelights and fanlight in a rusticated surround with a carved keystone. Above this door is the lettering "MIDLAND BANK CHAMBERS". Between the ground and first floors sits an oval window in an enriched surround, with a further enriched escutcheon on the second floor.

The west elevation facing Exchange Place is a four-bay return similarly styled to the Exchange Square front, with a slightly recessed left end bay. Within this bay, four steps lead to a recessed entrance surmounted by a small square-headed window topped with a small escutcheon. Enriched escutcheons appear on both the first and second floors.

Above the corner of the roof rises a shallow octagonal umbrella-domed lantern topped by a ball finial on an enriched flanged stem. The dome features round-headed half-dormers with a similar oculus on each face. Enriched escutcheons sit below the windows and at angles, with fleuron roundels positioned below the moulded string course that encircles the lower part of the drum. Three stacks rise from the flat roof. Mid-to-late twentieth-century rear extensions have been added to the building.

The interior banking hall retains mosaic floors, wood dado panelling with a carved cornice, and an Adam-style plaster frieze decorated with garlands and drops. The ceiling displays a geometric pattern enriched with fruit-and-flower ribs.