5, St Helens Square

This is a bank building, constructed between 1829 and 1830, with an extension added in 1924 and alterations to the ground floor in 1991. It was designed by Watson, Pritchett and Watson for the York County Savings Bank. The building is constructed with brick faced with sandstone ashlar, with a rusticated ground floor over a horizontally ribbed basement. It has a shallow-pitched slate roof with stacks faced in ashlar.

The exterior is two storeys high, with one and a half bays facing St Helen's Square, and three and a half bays facing Blake Street, including a curved corner bay with half bays flanking it. A three-storey, three-bay extension is located at the right end of the Blake Street frontage. The corner bay entrance features double doors with shaped panels, Doric column jambs, and a shaped overlight with a scrolled grille, all set within a tall architrave beneath a segmental hoodmould supported by moulded brackets. The overlight transom is inscribed 'SAVINGS BANK'. The first floor is articulated by fluted Composite columns and plain pilasters supporting an entablature with a plain frieze and moulded cornice. Windows throughout are single-pane sashes; those on the first floor have semicircular fanlights set within round-headed openings, architraves, and transoms adorned with incised Greek key ornament. The corner bay is topped with a shaped pediment of volutes framing a panel with the words 'SAVINGS BANK' carved in low relief. A subsidiary door with fielded panels in a pedimented doorcase is located at the right end of the Blake Street extension. Ground floor windows are margin glazed, while first and second-floor windows are designed to match the original building, but with wider transoms. A rectangular rainwater head dated 1924 is positioned at the right end of the cornice.

The former boardroom on the first floor has been subdivided. It features three bays articulated by Corinthian pilasters, with a blind arcade of round arches opposite the windows, which are set within round-arched architraves. There are panelled double doors and the ceiling is coffered with stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops, enriched with oak-leaf and acorn decoration. A room within the extension contains a reset fireplace with composition ornament of urns, garlands, rinceaux and drops.