Barclays Bank

Barclays Bank, Saffron Walden

Bank built in 1874 by W Eden Nesfield for Gibsons and Tuke, bankers. The building is constructed in red brick with stone dressings and ornamental detail in mixed Gothic style, essentially Elizabethan in character. Originally L-shaped in plan, it has been lengthened by 20th-century single-storey, flat-roofed extensions to the rear.

The west front elevation comprises three storeys and attics beneath hipped, peg-tiled roofs with prominent Tudor stacks rising behind a panelled, irregular parapet ornamented with rosettes and lead. The elevation is organized into two principal units.

The northern unit contains a two-window range rising above a deep podium with two moulded string courses. The windows have moulded mullions and transoms with splayed sills and flush but irregular dressing quoins. On the ground floor are two windows of 2x4 lights each, with plain fixed glazing in the lower lights and small leaded coloured panes in geometrical shapes in the upper three. First floor windows are 4x2 lights with leaded panes, the lower coloured and upper clear. Second floor windows are 3x1 lights with metal casements and central horizontal glazing bars, supplemented by small single lights to the outer north and south edges. A central dormer window beneath a prominent hip and gablet contains three-cant casement lights with glazing bars. Shaped stacks with decorative heads flank the central roof hip.

The southern unit is shorter and features a ground floor internal porch with a moulded two-centred archway rising to a raised floor. This contains two-leaved panelled doors ornamented with the initials G.T., a saffron flower and apple motif, and spandrel decoration featuring storks (Gibson's motif). An adjacent doorway with a flat ogee arch and lion head and leaf enrichment leads to domestic quarters, its boarded and battened door topped by an overlit in a pedimented frame with iron grille and G.T. initials; the pediment bears '1874 Walden'. Above the principal archway is a three-light mullioned window with leaded panes. The wall above splays inward to create a façade break; a buttress rises from the splay at the outer south edge. The first floor contains a three-light mullioned window; the second floor a two-light casement window. A long window bridging two storeys, with 2 and 3-light divisions, has a similarly proportioned lower blind panel beneath. A prominent lead down-pipe in two sections features elaborate water heads at parapet and ground/first floor levels.

The east rear elevation echoes the front, with a stairway and domestic unit of less depth to the south. The ground floor is partially obscured by additions but retains plain stone mullioned windows. The principal northern unit has a two-window range with wooden frames and glazing bars: on the first floor, mullions and transoms form 4x2 lights with mixed pane divisions; on the second floor, mullioned casements of 4 lights contain 2x3 panes. A rosette parapet frames a dormer similar to the front, with stacks flanking either side. The southern unit rises only to first-storey height with a transomed window of 2x5 panes and glazing bars, topped by a flat roof and parapet. To the south lies a recessed stair area with a ground floor slate lean-to porch containing a panelled door and adjacent sash window of 2x5 panes with glazing bars. The first floor features a mullioned and transomed window of 4 lights with mixed pane divisions; the second floor a two-light casement window with 2x3 panes each. A decorative dormer behind a rosette parapet has a flat rectangular head with central crest and a three-cant window with frieze lights around the cants and a central 4x4 paned window, the side cheeks unglazed.

The north end elevation is largely obscured by an adjacent property but displays a high plain side wall with three tall prominent stacks in red brick. The central, broadest stack features chamfered pilasters rising to stepped expanded heads.

Interior

The ground floor banking hall has been altered at the rear to accommodate extensions but retains a plastered ceiling in Elizabethan style with ribbed panels and pendants, decorated with vases of flowers, fleur-de-lys and various flower designs. The room is panelled to half-height with wainscotting, a fluted frieze and embattled cornice; some rear panels are carved with named varieties of saffron flowers. A frieze of windows contains coloured leaded panes in geometrical shapes. The south side of the room features a large fireplace in fossiliferous limestone with a flat arch and deep moulding carried down to high stops on the jambs, a stone integral fender, and majolica tiles in the splayed flanks. The wooden overmantel is panelled and embattled with a flower frieze. Entry doors from the porch are two-leaved and panelled with upper glazed panels of coloured leaded panes, each 3x4 lights. The private domestic stairway at the south end is a dogleg stone stair with a slender cast-iron newel and balusters decorated with fine leaf and stem ornament alternating with palmettes, and a shaped oak handrail with scrolling.

Nesfield also undertook work in the adjoining parishes of Radwinter, where he restored the church and designed shops, and Newport, where he designed the Grammar School.