Number 1, Bank Buildings

Number 1, Bank Buildings is a bank of around 1857, originally constructed for the London and County Bank by John Howell & Son of Hastings; an unknown architect was responsible for the design. The building was extended in the earlier 20th century.

The building is constructed of stone with timber or metal windows. It originally had twin entrances to the street, one to the west leading to the banking hall, and the other to the east providing access to the bank chambers on the upper floors. A side extension also has its own entrance.

The symmetrical, neo-classical front elevation faces south onto Havelock Road and is arranged over four storeys and five bays. The ground floor features rusticated masonry, with three 20th-century metal windows in the centre, incorporating aprons and metal bank fittings. The window tops are separated by rectangular mouldings, above which is a modern banking fascia beneath a fluted band decorated with patera. The flanking bays contain entrances, each with a pair of three-panel, solid doors under a rectangular fanlight, set within a substantial moulded architrave carrying the inscribed text 'Bank' or 'Bank Chambers'. These architraves are surmounted by 20th-century stone balconies with columnar balusters, supported by decorative console brackets.

The upper floors are recessed to the centre, where a giant order of four fluted columns with Ionic capitals rises under a cornice. The windows are multi-pane sashes in moulded architraves, square-headed under flat heads to the first floor, and round-headed with keystones to the second floor. Iron balconies front the first-floor windows. The projecting side bays follow the same window pattern, but with narrower rustication, and the windows are recessed with a concave fillet. The top floor has multi-pane casements under segmental arches, surmounted by a dentil band, moulded cornice and balustrade.

The two-bay extension is faced in ashlar stone and is designed in a stripped classical style. It has a modern metal and granite bank front to the ground floor. A solid door of eight panels, decorated with a circular motif, is located to the right side. The first floor has tall, metal-framed windows above a fluted cill band and the second floor has similar but shorter fenestration, above rectangular aprons. The top floor stands above a plain cornice and has segmentally headed multi-pane casements under a plain parapet.

The banking hall has a lowered ceiling and modern finishes to all visible walls and partitions, although remnants of the original interior scheme may survive behind these modern surfaces. The bank chambers, upper floors, and extension were not inspected.