National Westminster Bank

The National Westminster Bank, located at 53 High Street in Runcorn, is a bank building from the late 19th century. It is constructed of brick in Flemish bond, featuring cast and rubbed brick dressings and polished granite columns that frame the entrance. The roof is parapetted. The building is a single storey with a symmetrical three-window range centered around a projecting entrance bay, which has a prostyle porch supported by columns in the Composite order. An entablature runs continuously across the building and returns in a simplified form to the left. While some decorative details are Gothic in style, the overall design has a distinctly Italianate character typical of bank buildings from this period. All openings are flat arched, and the entrance and doors are of an original design with subordered and moulded jambs, while the windows flanking the entrance feature pediments. A late 20th-century brick wing to the east is not included in the listing. The bank is part of a group with the adjacent buildings at 53 and 55 High Street, as well as the Victorian terrace walls and railings of St. Paul’s Health Centre to the east.