NatWest Bank and associated office chambers

NatWest Bank and Associated Office Chambers

A bank building with associated office chambers, constructed 1910-1911 by the architectural firm Reeve and Reeve of Margate. The structure occupies the corner of High Street and Hardres Street, planned as an inverted L-shape with the main bank facing the streets and office chambers set to the rear.

The building is constructed of red brick laid in English bond with Portland stone ashlar dressings and a marble plinth, beneath a slate roof.

The main bank building is designed in the Wrennaissance style. It features a chamfered corner entrance bay with three flanking bays and a larger ground floor beneath two further storeys capped by a hipped roof with a prominent red brick chimneystack.

The corner bay at ground floor contains a six-panelled door with rusticated stone surround and lintel with keystone. Above sits a tripartite lunette window surmounted by a garland-decorated keystone and flanked by foliate consoles that support a frieze and projecting cornice with dentils. A projecting stone balcony with metal balustrade follows, its central bars decorated with scrollwork and finials at both ends. The dentilled cornice continues between ground and first floors across both principal elevations.

The two storeys above the balcony feature rusticated treatment and six-over-six sash windows. These are separated by a cartouche containing a central Coat of Arms with portcullis and rosette, enclosed within carved fruit with scroll decoration in high relief. The second-floor windows have scroll mouldings to their surrounds.

The south-west and south-east ground floors contain rusticated pilasters framing four tall metal-framed, multi-light arched windows that illuminate the banking hall within. Pairs of vertical glazing bars, similar to mullions, are filled with dappled glass and decorative metalwork in a repeating fish pattern. A simple modern window guard is positioned at the base of each window, broken to allow access to the cash machine and deposit box on the south-west elevation. Each window is crowned by a garland-decorated keystone above which sits a modern NatWest fascia.

The first and second floors of these elevations comprise three bays with an asymmetrical arrangement of six-over-six sash windows with horns. Those on the second storey have segmental pediments with bead and reel decoration within the architrave, along with scrollwork and swag relief between the second and third bays. At the central window of the first floor on the south-east elevation, more elaborate decoration appears, featuring scrollwork and an open segmental pediment containing an urn-shaped object decorated with swag in the tympanum. The cornice to the projecting eaves displays egg and dart motifs, and stone quoins terminate each end of the elevations.

The associated office chambers are attached to the north-east side of the main bank with similar but more utilitarian treatment. They have a marble plinth, ground floor faced with ashlar stone, and exposed red brick to the first and second floors. Three ground-floor sash windows have radiating stone heads and black metal frames with iron window guards featuring scrollwork. The first and second-floor sash windows have four-over-four or six-over-six panes beneath straight brick heads, and aprons appear on the second floor only. The building has a plain eaves cornice beneath a slate hipped roof with two brick chimneystack, except to the north where it drops a storey to accommodate a flat roof. From this extends a monumental chimneystack. A moulded-stone entrance doorway for clerks is located at the northern end of the elevation, with a projecting hood of classical detailing and shoulder windows. A plaque inscribed with the construction date is positioned centrally above the doorway, with a further narrow louvered door to its right.

The main entrance opens into a double-height banking hall. The ceiling retains two original octagonal decorative plasterwork mouldings with fruit and foliate relief and an egg and dart cornice. Window architraves are enriched with bead and reel. A memorial plaque on the wall commemorates members of staff who lost their lives during the Great War. Some original panelling survives on the walls within the main banking hall and more extensively in the primary chamber, most likely the manager's room, leading from the hall. The panelling is also incorporated into the doorway of this room. Beyond these rooms, the building including all upper floors is believed to have been largely refitted in the mid to late 20th century.