Barclays Bank and Attached Area Railings

Barclays Bank and attached area railings were built between 1929 and 1931 by E. Boardman & Son and Brierley & Rutherford of York. The building features rusticated Portland stone on the ground floor and red brick above, topped with a hipped slate roof and four red brick chimneys on the south facade. Designed in a classical style reminiscent of Palladian architecture, the bank has a V-shaped plan with the main banking hall facing Bank Plain and administrative offices looking south onto Castle Meadow.

The main northeast front is two storeys high with an attic and consists of 11 symmetrical bays. The entrance bays at either end slightly project, as do alternate window bays. The building has rusticated quoins, and the double-leaf doors are flanked by Doric columns and pilasters, topped with a triglyph frieze and pediment. The ground floor features 2-light windows, while the first-floor windows have sashes with glazing bars set in shouldered architraves, some adorned with pediments on consoles. The attic has segmental-headed dormers. The southeast return has a window arrangement of 1:1:3:1:1, and there are wrought iron area railings.

On the south facade, the building rises three storeys with an attic and has a window arrangement of 1:6:1:6:1. It features a central doorway with a pediment, shouldered architraves on the enriched first-floor windows, and dormers. Inside, the monumental banking hall has a basilican form with aisles and apsed ends, consisting of seven bays supported by square Corinthian columns. The ceiling is a tunnel vault with coffered detailing, and there is a clerestory with Diocletian windows. The three-bay apses have arched recesses and central windows with pediments.