Midland Bank And Attached Railings

The Midland Bank, built around 1910, is located on Lichfield Street in Wolverhampton. This bank is designed in the Edwardian Baroque style and constructed from ashlar stone, featuring a parapeted roof. It stands three storeys high and has a seven-bay facade. The building showcases channelled rustication on the projecting end bays, which are open-pedimented and flank a giant attached Ionic colonnade that extends across the ground and first floors. The attic storey is topped with a balustraded parapet.

On the ground floor, there are round-headed plate-glass windows adorned with archivolts and keystones that feature cherubs. The first bay has a hollow-chamfered window opening. The first-floor windows in the end bays are framed with eared architraves and contain 18-pane sash windows. The end bay windows are situated in oriels supported by consoles with concave sides, and above them are semi-circular open pediments that feature segmental-headed small-paned windows. Stepped blocks above these windows are decorated with wreaths. The attic storey has plain surrounds for the 12-pane sash windows.

The entrance to the end bay features a round-headed opening with an inset aedicule that includes polished granite Tuscan columns, an entablature with a pulvinated frieze, and a tympanum embellished with a cartouche, scroll work, and a panel that reads: BANK. The inner entrance is located within this space. A recessed end bay has a projecting porch with the inscription: METROPOLITAN CHAMBERS. Iron railings are present in the centre bays, although part has been removed for access. The right return to Lichfield Passage shows the first bay as the end bay to the front, with two bays serving as centre bays, and a plain three-bay projecting block that includes dormers in the attic. The interior features a late 20th-century banking hall.