NatWest Bank

NatWest Bank

A bank built in 1909 and designed by Reginald Blomfield. The building is constructed of red brick and Portland stone above a granite plinth, with a slate roof.

Originally Blomfield's plans treated Nos. 224 and 226 as two separate properties. No. 224 contained the bank with a four-bedroom manager's flat occupying the upper two floors, accessed from the manager's office and via a side entrance on Chelsea Manor Street. No. 226 housed a shop with a smaller two-bedroom flat above. In 1964, alterations converted the shop into office space for the bank. A doorway was cut through the dividing wall between the two units, and the former shopfront became a window. The banking hall was enlarged to incorporate the former manager's office. A rear extension was added in 1993 (not included in this assessment), and the manager's flat was divided into three separate units at that time.

The building occupies a prominent corner site where Chelsea Manor Road meets the King's Road. The architectural style reflects the late seventeenth-century English Baroque or 'Wrenaissance' character of Blomfield's mature work, defined by bold yet refined Classical forms, deliberately top-heavy proportions, and strong colour contrast between soft red brick and white Portland ashlar, set against a grey granite plinth.

The main three-storey block stands at the street corner. A tall basement storey, containing the bank and former shop, is clad in deeply channelled ashlar. Two broad arched openings face the King's Road, fitted with small-paned metal-framed glazing; the opening on the right retains its original glazing though somewhat altered, while the left opening replaced the former shopfront in 1964. The bank entrance on the right displays a heavily moulded surround with a triple keystone, above which sits a carved panel bearing a crown and anchor emblem and a festoon. Bronze numerals on the right and far left show the street numbers of the original two properties. The side elevation to Chelsea Manor Street features a tall arched central window flanked by two oval windows with carved festoons. The upper storeys employ a giant order of brick pilasters—single on the front elevation, paired at the side—with rusticated quoins at the corners. Between the pilasters are multi-pane timber sash windows in stone surrounds with keystones and aprons. A deep cornice with mutules and guttae surmounts these storeys, supporting a steep mansard roof with pedimented dormers. On the side elevation, the pilaster line rises into the roof as a pair of tall square chimney stacks embracing a window in an arched recess.

Behind this main block stands a lower wing, originally serving as the public entrance to the manager's flat and originally containing only a hallway, stair and utility rooms. It is treated as an independent three-bay composition of two storeys plus attic, styled as a townhouse. Red brick predominates here over stone, with stone appearing only in the granite plinth, Portland doorcase, keystones, cills and string courses. The windows are again multi-pane sashes, markedly taller on the ground floor, set in double-height arched recesses with flat keystone heads and brick aprons. A six-panel door with ornamental leaded overlight is positioned off-centre to the right, within a stone surround featuring a pulvinated frieze and broken segmental pediment. Above the first floor is a simple projecting cornice, and above that three round attic windows beneath carved brick festoons. The plain side and rear elevations of the main block were altered in 1993 when the extension was added.

The banking hall retains most of its plaster decoration, including mutule cornices, moulded window surrounds and wall panels with festoons. The original fittings—dado panelling and fireplace—have been removed, and new openings have been inserted into the former shop and manager's office. The flats above have undergone substantial alteration, particularly the former manager's flat in No. 224, which was divided into three units in 1993 and retains nothing of its original layout. The rear stairs serving the flats also date from 1993.