National Westminster Bank including Lothbury Gallery

National Westminster Bank and Lothbury Gallery

The former headquarters of Westminster Bank, built between 1923 and 1931 by Mewes and Davis in three phases following their competition win in 1921. The building occupies the north side of Lothbury, EC2, at No.41 (including No.12 Angel Court).

The structure consists of a steel frame clad in stone, rising five main storeys with two attic storeys above. The building features a rectangular double-height banking hall with offices along a convex front curved to follow the street line, and a directors' wing extending along Angel Court. The asymmetrical composition is articulated in 8:3:5 bays, with the three-bay centre containing the entrance and terminating the vista from Bartholomew Street.

The main facade is characterised by a high base with Ionic pilasters uniting the ground and mezzanine floors and carrying a modified entablature with a flat carved cill level. Above this, the upper storeys are finished in plain ashlar with moulded architraves and console keystones to the lower openings, which embrace the second and third floor windows, and moulded frames to the fourth floor openings. A simple frieze and cornice with crowning balustrade tops the main storeys, above which are two recessed attic storeys. The lower attic windows have bracketed cornice hoods, whilst three of the upper attic windows feature scrolly headed frames broken by projecting keystones.

The asymmetrically placed three-bay entrance block, slightly projecting and quoined, contains a tripartite entrance composition with a two-storey arched opening leading to a coffered tunnel-vaulted entrance. Above the entrance is a central window with a console hood on consoles. The two-storey monumental attic above features coupled composite columns with bracketed entablature and crowning balustrade, with armorial sculpture over the centre and sculpted sea horses at the corners. Between the coupled columns are deep recessed semi-circular headed openings with carved keystones and festoon decoration. A war memorial plaque to the fallen staff of both World Wars is positioned here. The elevation to Angel Court is treated similarly, with a return elevation at the left-hand end to Tokenhouse Yard.

Interior

A vestibule leads to the double-height former banking hall, now used as an art gallery. The hall is lined in Subiaco marble with a marble floor of alternating squares of green and white marble. Natural top-lighting is provided through bronze ventilators, supplemented by artificial lighting after dark and in winter. The space is defined by a giant order of 4 x 3 fluted Ionic columns with full-height Ionic pilasters to the outside walls. A gallery on three sides is supported on Tuscan half-columns. The fourth side, facing the vestibule, is treated as a monument to the fallen, with Ionic columns on both sides framing double doors beneath giant arches with engaged pilasters. Doorcases have stone cornices and architrave surrounds. Egg and dart box cornices are throughout, along with built-in radiators and a letter box. Bronze pendant cylinder lights with bronze fixings and bronze lifts serve the space, as do two sets of stairs leading to the five office storeys along the Lothbury frontage.

The offices are elaborately finished in a variety of styles. The second floor manager's office is fully panelled with bolection mouldings and decorative fillets, featuring a marble fireplace with fluted pilasters and doors in moulded surrounds. The fourth floor manager's office is similarly treated with bolection-moulded panelling. The directors' suite overlooking Angel Court is executed in even greater elaboration. Dining rooms feature foliate and Adamesque cornices with marble fireplaces. A curved staircase in an oval hall, with iron balustrade and decorative brass urns, leads to a corridor with groin vault and Corinthian pilasters serving meeting rooms in seventeenth century style, reached through doors with pedimented surrounds.

The committee rooms employ various styles: one features heavy modillion cornices and late 17th century moulded ceilings with chandeliers; double doors from this room lead to a coffee room with a marble fireplace in an Ionic apse with fluted Ionic pilasters arranged in antis. Below, the first-floor Chairman's office has a dentilled cornice, with other rooms in the suite featuring egg and dart cornices, high ceilings and mahogany doors. Two further committee rooms have heavy modillion cornices and coved ceilings with Corinthian pilasters flanking marble fireplaces, dados and doorcases with console brackets.

The building is listed Grade II* principally for its opulent interior, which remains little altered.