Century House

Century House is a building society bank constructed between 1925 and 1928, designed by T.D. Atkinson. It is now used as a Pentecostal church. The front of the building is faced with Portland stone ashlar, while the rear is red brick in stretcher bond. It has a slate roof and brick axial and side stacks.

The building is rectangular with a carriageway on the right-hand side. The west front is symmetrical, featuring three storeys and five bays. The ground floor is rusticated, with a colonnade and a recessed entrance in antis. The entrance features Tuscan columns and an entablature, with an occulus on either side. The entrance doors are fielded panel double doors with an overlight, flanked by windows with projecting cill aprons. The first floor has large 18-pane sash windows in moulded architraves with cornices and aprons. The central window has an open segmental pediment with a cartouche, an architrave with volutes, and an elaborate inscribed apron panel. Smaller 12-pane sash windows are positioned above. A modillion cornice and parapet top the front. To the right is a recessed two-window section with narrower 8-pane sash windows on the first and second floors, and a carriageway below. The rear of the building is red brick with large sash windows with glazing bars.

The interior includes a panelled entrance vestibule with half-glazed double doors and a fanlight, leading to a banking hall with pilasters and fanlights over glazed double doors. A panelled boardroom on the first floor has giant Ionic pilasters on the piers, panelling, and a roof light in the ceiling.

Century House represents a good example of a 1920s classical bank building in Portland stone, notable for its fine architectural details.