The Former Oldham Joint Stock Bank, now HSBC

The Former Oldham Joint Stock Bank, now HSBC

Bank built in 1895 by an architect unknown. The building is constructed of ashlar sandstone with a rock-faced pink granite plinth and slate roofs, designed in the Neo-classical style.

The bank occupies a prominent corner location at the junction of Yorkshire Street and The Butts. Its curved plan comprises two and three storeys with a basement. The curved front elevation features a three-storey central section of three bays, flanked by two-storey ranges of three bays on the left-hand side and four bays on the right-hand side.

The façade displays classical detailing throughout. Between the ground and first floors, and again between the first and second floors of the central section, there are moulded frieze bands. The eaves entablatures are finished with moulded dentil cornices, and a balustraded parapet crowns the central section. The ground floor is characterised by banded rustication across the entire façade, with pilasters separating the bays of the side ranges. The central entrance bay projects slightly and features an oversized round-headed doorway with oversized, stepped voussoirs that break into the frieze band above. The keystone is relief-carved with a shield. The doorway now contains a modern aluminium and glazed door with a blocked-in overlight. The ground-floor windows are round-headed with rusticated voussoirs, timber mullion and transom frames, and glazed semi-circular overlights.

The first bay of the left-hand range contains a round-headed archway to a passageway leading to a private side entrance. This archway has banded rustication to the reveals and soffit, with a decorative iron railing gate featuring a circular flower motif at the arch head. The second bay of this range has a shallow, square-headed basement light in the plinth beneath its window. The plinth of the left-hand range is largely obscured by a modern access ramp rising adjacent to the wall to reach the top step of the central flight of steps. The third bay of the central section and the first and second bays of the right-hand range also contain shallow, square-headed basement lights in the plinth. The plinth of the right-hand range deepens towards the outer corner. A doorway beneath the ground-floor window in the fourth bay contains plain timber double doors.

Giant engaged Tuscan columns rise through the first and second floors of the central section, supporting an entablature topped by a balustraded parapet. All first-floor windows are square-headed with panelled architraves and canopies supported by enriched console brackets. The windows feature timber mullion and transom frames. The three second-floor windows of the central section are round-headed with panelled architraves, enriched console brackets decorated with lion heads, rusticated voussoirs, and cyma reversa keystones.

The ground floor has been partially opened up to accommodate modern banking practices, though the original wall divisions remain discernible at ceiling level where deep, moulded and dentilled cornices survive. Towards the rear of the banking hall is an elongated octagonal roof light with decorative geometric tracery set with Art Nouveau leaded and stained glass. The first and second floors retain moulded cornices to the rooms, and a three-bay arcade is present on the first floor. Moulded and panelled door architraves and panelled doors remain throughout the building. The staircase at the east end and the staircase to the cellar both feature wooden, moulded, ramped handrails with plain iron railing balustrades. Two cast-iron fireplaces are located on the second floor.

The banking hall on the ground floor of the central section originally contained offices and a caretaker's flat in the east range.