National Westminster Bank

The National Westminster Bank, located at Nos. 51 and 52 Fawcett Street in Sunderland, is a building dating from 1878, designed by the architects Austin, Johnson and Hicks as part of a subscription library. This structure, which is now used as offices and a bank, features ashlar stonework with cast-iron window guards and a balcony, topped by a light grey slate roof.

In the Baroque palazzo style, the building stands three stories high and has eight windows. The ground floor is rusticated and has been altered; it includes a double panelled door in the third bay set within a round-headed opening, which is topped by a bracketed segmental hood featuring a central bracket adorned with a draped escutcheon. Above this, giant Corinthian pilasters define the bays. The upper floors have plain sash windows with keyed architraves, while the second floor windows feature segmental heads and projecting aproned sills.

Iron guards connect the bases of the pilasters, and in the central bay of the five-bay bank on the right, these guards extend to form a balcony. The top entablature includes a pulvinated frieze and a modillioned cornice. The building also has side consoles supporting seven segmental-headed dormers, which have keyed architraves and plain sashes. Finally, tall chimneys with cornices rise from the ridge. This building was designed as part of a larger project that included Woods Bank at No. 53, serving as the front range of the subscription library.