11 Pelham Street and 3 Thurland Street, formerly the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Bank

The former Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Bank stands at the corner of Thurland Street and Pelham Street. The original bank building was designed by Watson Fothergill of Nottingham and built between 1879 and 1882. A southern extension was added in 1924 to 1925 by Basil Baily, taking the building around the corner into Pelham Street. The interior was altered in 1985 by the Seymour Harris Partnership, and in 2004 to 2005 the Louis de Soissons Partnership converted the building into two retail units.

Materials and Construction

The building is constructed of polychrome Darley Dale Millstone Grit and red Mansfield stone, with a plinth of red and grey polished Scottish granite. The rear elevations are of English bond brick. The roof is of graduated slate with 20th-century Millstone Grit stacks.

Plan

The building is rectangular on plan, aligned north to south. The original bank building of 1879 to 1882 stands on the west side of Thurland Street. The 1924 to 1925 extension took the building around the corner into Pelham Street.

Exterior

The building is two storeys with a basement and attic, designed in an Early English Gothic Revival style. It has a chamfered plinth, string courses, and a trefoil-pierced balustrade supported by foliated brackets to the attic. Unless otherwise stated, all ground-floor windows are segmental arched with foliated roll moulds, all first-floor windows are pointed with linked hoodmoulds with foliate and animal-head stops, and all attic windows have shouldered arches. All ground and first-floor windows have granite shafts with foliated capitals.

The original bank building of 1879 to 1882 is a symmetrical composition with a 15-window range to Thurland Street. It is centred around a Rhenish-style entrance tower and flanked by gabled end bays with massive 20th-century wall stacks. All three elements project slightly, with the end bays having recessed faces rising to graduated heads. The gables of the tower and end bays contain Portland stone sculpted panels depicting the three main local occupations of the time: agriculture, coal mining, and textiles. Sculpted figures on the roof include eagle gargoyles, reptilian cats, and a stork. At the base of the brick chimney at the north end is a sculpted stone monkey chained to his mortgage, added by Fothergill as a reference to the Victorian idea of mortgages being a burden akin to having a monkey on one's back.

The ground floor of the entrance tower has a round-arched double doorway of two orders with single shafts to the inner order and paired shafts to the outer order, all with foliated capitals, and panelled and studded oak doors. At the centre of the tympanum, which sits above a crenellated lintel with stiff-leaf ornament, is a circular terracotta plaque sculpted with the logo of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Bank. The remainder of the tympanum is richly embellished with a scrollwork background filled with foliated stems encircling two sculpted roundels: one showing Nottingham Castle and the other depicting a tree atop a cave. Projecting above the doorway, from the first-floor room originally occupied by the bank manager's private library, is a canted oriel with paired, foliated brackets to a moulded corbel decorated with stiff-leaf ornament. It is divided by shafts with foliated capitals into one, two, and one lights with quatrefoil heads with painted coloured glass. Fixed to its apron is a later wrought-iron hanging bracket with its signboard now having the logo for All Saints superimposed on top of the former NatWest logo. Running across the top of the window is a dentilled cornice, over which is a pierced parapet embellished with gargoyles. Its hipped roof of banded stone rises to a stiff-leaf ridge piece, which in turn rises above the sill line of the triplet of pointed attic windows. The tower itself is square-sectioned with stone-coped gables flanked by corner turrets with gargoyles and crocketed spires and finials. It is terminated by a timber-framed bell-turret with a tall pyramidal roof with lucarnes and a foliated finial.

The fenestration pattern to the remainder of the ground floor comprises, to the right-hand side of the doorway, a single window followed by a pair of 20th-century windows set within the former doorway to the bank manager's living accommodation, all with plate-traceried roundels. To the right again, the end bay has a triplet of windows with glazed heads. The walling to the left-hand side of the doorway has two paired windows, all with plate-traceried roundels, while the left-hand end bay has a triplet of windows with glazed heads.

Above the ground-floor windows is a shallow frieze with diapering and a band of 13 shields. Seven of the shields are carved with the locations of the bank's branches at its time of construction: Nottingham, Mansfield, Loughborough, Newark, Worksop, Retford, and Southwell. The remaining five are blank.

On the first floor, there is a single window immediately to the right-hand side of the oriel. To its right is a former staircase window (the staircase now removed) comprised of a triplet of two-light lancets with plate-traceried roundels, all with painted coloured glass, and a stepped sill band with pierced quatrefoils. To the right again, the end bay has a triplet of windows with a trefoil-pierced balcony supported on four large foliated brackets. To the left-hand side of the oriel there is an arcade of five windows. The centre window is blind with a quatrefoil-shaped niche carved with the date 1882, along with an inscribed stone at sill level which reads "FOTHERGILL WATSON / ARCHITECT". Its hoodmould is embellished with sculpted owls. To the left again, the gabled end bay has a triplet of windows with a trefoil-pierced balcony supported by four large foliated brackets.

On the attic floor, to the right-hand side of the tower, there is a single window followed by a triplet, with two paired windows on its left-hand side. The end bays both have paired windows with pointed heads and shafts with foliated capitals.

Adjoining the left-hand gable end of the original building, taking it around the corner into Pelham Street, is a large extension of 1924 to 1925. Although the building replicates the original building's fenestration pattern, all its ground-floor windows were lowered and fitted with frameless glass in about 2004 to 2005. The ground and first floors of its three-bay Thurland Street elevation both have three windows each, while the attic has three paired windows. The corner to Pelham Street is turned by a canted bay which rises to an octagonal tower with a crenellated parapet. Its ground floor has a circa 2004 to 2005 plate glass door inserted into a former window opening, while the first-floor window has a quatrefoil-pierced balcony supported on foliated brackets. Above is a single attic window. At the centre of the six-bay Pelham Street façade there is a round-arched doorway with stiff-leaf ornament, engaged colonnettes with foliated capitals, and a tympanum of wrought-iron scrollwork above a moulded lintel. Projecting over the doorway is a canted oriel of one, two, and one lights with quatrefoils to its corbelled apron and a moulded cornice with fleurons. Attached to the apron is an armorial shield bearing a portcullis in relief (the former logo of the Westminster Bank). The two ground and first-floor bays that flank the centrepiece continue the fenestration pattern as described above, while the attic has seven windows. The sixth bay at the left-hand end is formed by a stair turret which rises to a deep blocking course with a crenellated parapet. On its ground floor there are double oak doors beneath a shallow segmental head. A name panel over the door, which is bordered by fleurons and flanked by foliated pendants with fleur-de-lis caps, reads "NOTTS BANK / CHAMBERS" in applied metal lettering. Over the name panel is a small segmental-arched landing window with a foliated roll mould, while the first floor has a flat-arched window with a trefoil-pierced balcony supported by foliated brackets. Both windows have shallow segmental hoodmoulds with foliated stops. Above again is a single attic window.

Interior

In about 2004 to 2005 the ground floor was subdivided into two retail units when the 20th-century arcade at the south end of the original bank building was infilled with a stud wall. The arcade itself is comprised of three segmental arches with polychrome heads and cast-iron columns with foliated capitals. Unit 1, which is occupied by Bravissimo, occupies the south-east corner of the ground floor and the whole of the first floor, with access to the vacant attic storey also being gained through this unit. Unit 2, which is occupied by All Saints, occupies the remainder of the ground floor and the basement. As a consequence of this internal reconfiguration, the original Thurland Street doorway now functions as a secondary entrance to both retail units. The main entrance to Unit 1 is from the circa 2004 to 2005 door in the canted corner bay, while Unit 2 is accessed from the central Pelham Street doorway.

The ground floor of Unit 1, which is rectangular on plan, has a square-panelled matchboard ceiling with deeply coved north, south, and west sides, with moulded ribs springing from foliated corbels, while the west side has curved braces springing from foliated corbels. The ceiling itself is painted with a floral motif, probably of about 2004 to 2005 date. The majority of the ground-floor fixtures and fittings are largely of about 2004 to 2005 date and include plastered and painted false walls, lighting units, a steel and timber staircase, and platform-type lift.

The staircase and lift, which are installed at the Pelham Street end of the shop unit, rise to a first-floor waiting area with a Gothic-style fireplace dated 1880, probably by Watson Fothergill. Immediately to the north of the first-floor waiting area is a large fitting area comprised of 20 free-standing cubicles of painted MDF, all installed about 2004 to 2005. Adjoining the north end of the fitting room is an L-shaped room which was created in the mid to late 20th century when the staircase to the bank's manager's living accommodation was removed and the stairwell floored over. The former staircase window has painted coloured glass with figures depicting Art, Science, Agriculture, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Mining, along with text from Ecclesiastes 9:10 and 11 (King James version). This room now encloses the former bank manager's private library (now a kitchen and staff room), which is lit by the oriel window above the Thurland Street doorway. Its quatrefoil heads contain painted glass portraits of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare along with the Latin phrase "TOLLE LEGE" (take up and read).

The attic storey is largely comprised of former offices, some of which have been opened up with the removal of partition walls. They have panelled matchboard doors and plastered and painted walls, with deeply coved matchboard ceilings to the original bank building and plastered and painted ceilings to the 1924 to 1925 range.

The interior of Unit 2, which is largely of red Hollington Stone, is dominated by the former domed banking hall. Of three stages, its ground floor is comprised of an arcade of 12 pointed arches supported on alternate red and grey Scottish granite columns. The arches are all enriched with foliated roll moulds, with the columns having foliated capitals with sculpted animal figures, some stylised and some life-like, again including a monkey chained to his mortgage. At the centre of the dome is a fluted lamp column with brass shades. The second stage is comprised of a galleried triforium which has a wrought-iron balustrade supported by wrought-iron brackets, along with a combination of blind and glazed three-light windows, the latter with cast-iron glazing bars. Above is a clerestory of wheel windows, again some blind and some with painted glass, all set within pointed recesses.

On the east side of the banking hall there are three segmental-arched polychrome doorways with mid to late 20th-century matchboard frames and about 2004 to 2005 doors. The left-hand side doorway has a plate glass door leading to an office created in the former entrance lobby to the bank manager's living accommodation. The central wooden security doors conceal a storage room. The double glass doors at the right-hand side lead through to the Thurland Street doorway where there is a vestibule with a wooden rib vault.

A room annexed at the north-east corner of the former banking hall has a square-panelled matchboard ceiling with deeply coved north, south, and west sides, with moulded ribs springing from wooden corbels, while the west side has curved braces pierced by a large quatrefoil roundel along with two smaller roundels. At the centre of the ceiling is a ventilation flue.

Standing on the west side of the former banking hall is a segmental-arched polychrome fireplace with paired shafts supporting a wooden hood. It is surmounted by a clock in a wooden case.

Original oak panelling survives in several areas of the former banking hall, particularly on the north wall, with some panels having human heads carved in relief. Panelling in other areas is of 20th-century pine matchboard which has been stained to resemble oak.

At the southern end of the unit, towards the Pelham Street doorway, the original subdivision of the 1924 to 1925 range, which was opened out circa 2004 to 2005, is illustrated by the presence of in-situ foliated cornices.

On the north wall of the banking hall is the shaft to a former service lift. The lift has been removed, the floor boarded over, and a replacement hood installed, all about 2004 to 2005. It is now used as a display unit. To its right-hand side is a half-glazed matchboard door with quatrefoil top lights, while a panelled matchboard door to its left-hand side provides access to the basement.

The brick basement is subdivided into a multitude of separate and interconnecting barrel-vaulted bank rooms. One includes an original security gate with a door handle in the shape of a human hand clutching a gold bar. However, the majority of the other security doors are 20th-century replacements.