Midland Bank And Attached Vaults

This is a bank, originally two houses (Nos. 44 and 45), now combined and altered. It dates from approximately 1763-1765, with alterations made in 1899 and a refronting in 1936. The front of the building is limestone ashlar, with a mansard roof covered in Welsh slate. A prominent ashlar stack with early clay pots rises from a coped party wall on the right side.

The building is three stories high, with an attic and basement, and has a six-window front. The first floor features six nine/nine sash windows within ovolo moulded architraves, each topped with a pediment. The second floor has six six/six sash windows within eared ovolo moulded architraves. The ground floor has four early 20th-century windows with glazing bars and fanlights, flanked by two pairs of early 20th-century panelled doors also with fanlights. Glass blocks in the pavement illuminate the basement. There are six dormers with three/six and six/six sash windows. The front features a plinth, a rusticated arcade with a moulded impost on the ground floor, a band course, a moulded cornice over the ground floor, a modillion eaves cornice, and a coped parapet. A moulded lead hopperhead and downpipe are located on the right. The rear elevation is not visible.

The interior of the bank has been heavily altered. The banking hall, dating back to the 1936 refronting, was refurbished in 1995. It is a two-story room with five clerestory windows and a panelled ceiling. The walls are wood-panelled.

The building was possibly designed by Thomas Jelly. In 1936, Whinney and Son refronted the building, significantly altering its appearance. Prior to this, the frontages of Nos. 44 and 45 were distinct, with different sill and cornice lines, particularly noticeable at No. 45. After the refronting, these lines were leveled, although No. 44 also appears to have been refronted at that time. Council permission in 1899 allowed for remodeling, stipulating that pavement lights not extend more than 2 feet from the new plinth (referring to No. 45). The building housed the London, City and Midland Bank in 1906. Photographs from 1902 and 1911 show the building as two separate houses with differing cornice lines. No. 45 featured columns and a large shell hood over the door, likely added during the 1899 alterations. These features disappeared when the building was refronted in 1936.