Natwest Bank

The NatWest Bank is a bank and banking hall with shop premises and office accommodation built between 1929 and 1930 to the designs of FCR Palmer and WFC Holden. The building is constructed in a classical style. The exterior is of red brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern, with Portland stone dressings and a roof of green Westmorland slates. The windows are metal-framed, and the entrance doorways are stainless steel.

The building occupies a wedge-shaped site, narrowing towards the main entrance on Broadgate, with a long curved elevation to Hertford Street, which includes a secondary entrance and shops at ground floor level. It is five storeys tall, with the uppermost storey set back behind a brick parapet. A wide, moulded string course runs above the second floor, and the hipped roof has deep eaves with mutules.

The Broadgate elevation is dominated by a large tetrastyle (four-columned) Doric portico. The entablature above the portico features decorative discs resembling coins of various designs. The central doorway is within a double-height rounded archway, with stainless steel doors folded back within the doorway’s wide sides; the inner doors have been modified.

The Hertford Street elevation consists of 16 bays, with the four northernmost bays now blocked by a connecting range to Broadgate House to the west. A secondary entrance is located just north of the center of this elevation and features a similar portico, though applied and without a pediment. The entablature formerly displayed the bank's name. The ground floor of this elevation is clad in stone, with three large shops to the right of the entrance and two smaller shops within the portico. The shop fronts have all been modernised, with the exception of one small shop that retains its stainless steel frontage.

All windows feature margin glazing and are set within stone surrounds that rise continuously between the first and second floors. Panels are located between these surrounds, and some are carved with motifs representing different trades of the city.

Inside, the banking hall remains largely unchanged, retaining its decorative scheme, though the counters have been removed and replaced. The hall is top-lit by a large glass lantern with geometric glazing. The ceilings in the hall and entrance vestibules are coffered, and the hall has triglyph and coin metope decoration to the cornice. The walls are clad in pale green marble.