31 and 33, Corn Street

A bank, later converted to a cafe and offices, built in 1930 by F.C.R. Palmer, with interior work dating to 1864 by W.B. Gingell. The building is constructed of Portland ashlar and red brick with Portland dressings. It is of Neo-Palladian style, three storeys high and has a five-window front. A symmetrical design features a projecting three-window section with a pediment. The ground floor is rusticated ashlar, rising to a full-width band, with tetrastyle attached Corinthian columns supporting an entablature and modillion pediment. The pediment contains a large cartouche, festoons, and the City arms, topped by a brick parapet. Semicircular arched ground-floor openings have banded reveals, with a central doorway featuring a carved key, six-panel double doors, and a fanlight. A smaller, flat-headed doorway and window are located to the right and left, set within rusticated surrounds. Upper floor windows are flanked by the columns and feature architraves with console cornices. The first floor has 6/6-pane sashes, and the second floor has 3/6-pane sashes with ears to each corner. Thin outer windows have 6/6-pane first-floor and 2/4-pane second-floor sashes.

Inside, the entrance lobby has a marble floor and paired Ionic pilasters with festooned capitals supporting semicircular arches. A panel above the doorway features a festoon, branches and a clock. The left-hand hall is in two sections with pilasters and pilastered piers to moulded beams. The large central banking hall is divided into three by two bays with paired pilasters, a frieze, and a dentil cornice. The south end has semicircular arched doorways flanking a flat arch, and the north end a central semicircular arch. The heavily decorated ceiling features gilded beams, panelled spandrels, and corners with rocaille and pairs of putti holding the Queen’s head and the City arms. A central glazed dome is complemented by four lunettes.