Premises Occupied By Lloyd'S Bank

The premises at 4 The Cross, Worcester, are a bank built between 1861 and 1862 for the Worcester City and County Banking Company Limited. Designed by Elmslie, the building is constructed of Cotswold stone ashlar over brick, with a concealed roof and red granite columns. It is of an L-plan and built in the Italian palazzo style. The building has three storeys and five windows on the first floor. Quoins run the full height of the facade. The ground floor exhibits deeply cut rustication, with moulded bands over, a frieze, and a cornice which doubles as the first-floor sill band. A further cornice over the first floor acts as the second-floor sill band, topped by a frieze and a modillion cornice. A balustrade with bulbous balusters tops the building. The central entrance is flanked by two pairs of Doric columns, each pair resting on a shared plinth. Above the doors is a balustrade with squared balusters. The entrance features double six-panel doors with a fanlight, pilasters, and a cavetto-moulded arch with a scroll motif. A keystone mask with a castellated crown sits at the apex, with shields and foliate decoration to the spandrels. Ground floor windows to either side are hornless sash windows in tooled surrounds, with outer pilasters featuring depressed panels and cornices on scrolled corbels. The first floor has French casements and fanlights with tooled heads, each with a central scrolled keystone within an aedicule comprising three-quarter engaged Doric columns, a dentil entablature, and foliated spandrels; lower balustrades have bulbous balusters. The second floor has plate glass casements with cambered heads, set within eared and shouldered architraves featuring scrolled keystones. The right return to The Avenue has four first-floor windows, with a shallow, off-centre bow. The ground floor windows here are similar, with three hornless sashes within a bow and rusticated arches above. A further entrance is located on the left side with a two-panel door and a blind fanlight within a rusticated surround. The first floor has casements with fanlights in similar aedicules, except for the bow, which has a triple window within a dentil pedimented surround. Windows to the second floor are similar to those on the front facade. The interior entrance hall has a tile floor, six-panel double doors with an architrave and cornice on acanthus columns, and wall panelling with a frieze featuring acanthus scrolls. A barrel-vaulted ceiling has ribs and panels. The ground floor otherwise features a lowered ceiling, which was not inspected. The bank cost approximately £14,000 to build and is a fine example of commercial architecture in its style. It contributes significantly to the group value alongside nearby listed buildings, including the Church of St Nicholas, numbers 20 and 21, The Cross, numbers 11 and 12 Foregate, as well as Premises occupied by Costa and the Bradford and Bingley Building Society, creating an important visual framework for the entrance to Worcester city centre.