52a Market Street

This is a former bank building dating from the early 20th century, with later 20th-century alterations. It is situated on a prominent corner and is built in a free style with Baroque detailing. The exterior is constructed of red brick laid in an English garden wall bond, with ashlar dressings and detailing, moulded copings, and brick sidewall stacks topped with moulded ashlar caps. A shallow, faceted turret roof is covered in Westmorland slate.

The building has an angled entrance bay between flanking ranges. It is two storeys high, partially atticed, with an ancillary service range of one and a half storeys to the southeast. The west entrance bay features granite Tuscan columns framing a doorway with 3-panel doors, partially obscured by a 20th-century sign. Pilaster strips above the columns support a faceted architrave that acts as a corbel for the entrance turret, which has three window bays. A moulded storey band defines the banking hall storey, above which are three narrow glazing bar sash windows, with 4 panes over 4, one to each turret facet. The unusually tall, voussoired window heads include advanced keyblocks. An attic storey is above the moulded storey band, with a single narrow, semi-circular headed light to each facet. The turret has an octagonal ashlar cap with festoon decoration, leading to oversailing eaves and a shallow turret roof with a lead finial.

Flanking the entrance bays to the northwest and southeast are single bays with wide ground floor windows set within semi-circular ashlar surrounds with stepped keystones. A moulded stone sill and tripartite window frames with plain radiating glazing bars are present. The first floor has two glazing bar sashes, with 6 panes over 6, below voussoired ashlar heads, and twin semi-circular headed attic lights above. Storey bands define the different floors, linking to the entrance turret. Gables with ashlar copings rise above the attics.

The southeast elevation has been extended with a two-storey bay, featuring a ground floor banking hall window and two first-floor sashes set below a shallow parapet. A lower service range follows, originally featuring a coupled three-light window within ashlar surrounds; this has been altered with an inserted doorway and the blocking of two lights.

The interior features a surviving banking hall, entrance vestibule, and interview room, although the banking hall has been subdivided by a 20th-century counter. The banking hall, vestibule, and interview room contain plaster ceiling cornices and raised and fielded wall panelling. The interview room has a contemporary fire surround with a pulvinated frieze and overmantel panel.