27 Fore Street

27 Fore Street is a former bank built between 1922 and 1924 for Lloyds Bank Limited by an architect whose name is unknown. The building is constructed of granite and limestone facing with a slate roof.

The plan is rectangular with a long rear extension that is slightly skewed to the street alignment. The building is designed in Classical style, standing two storeys high and four bays wide, with a pyramidal roof concealed behind a parapet.

The ground floor is faced in granite (probably not of local origin) with channelled rustication and four round-arched openings topped with scrolled corbelled keystones. The entrance occupies the left-hand bay and has a later 20th-century door. The three window openings contain later 20th-century timber windows, two of which have been altered to accommodate ATMs. Below the level of the historic sills is a recessed panel, and at impost and sill height run moulded bands similar to the architrave above the corbels. Above the architrave is a tall frieze with recessed panels, topped by a moulded cornice.

The first floor is faced in light-brown limestone and divided into four bays by two Doric pilasters and three engaged columns. Each bay contains a six-over-six sash window with horns, set within a moulded architrave featuring a keystone and two lintel blocks in the manner of a Gibbs surround. The central pair of windows is topped with triangular pediments while the outer pair has a moulded cornice. Above the entablature sits a dentilled cornice and balustraded parapet. Directly to the north behind the frontage building is a later 20th-century glazed octagonal lantern covering the dome of the banking-hall roof. The wall to the west (serving the internal staircase) is yellow brick with a later 20th-century access door to the roof. The southern wall is rendered with irregular fenestration comprising timber top-hung windows and metal-framed side-hung casements, all with concrete sills.

The banking hall extends three bays from north to south, defined by pilasters and ceiling beams with recessed panels running east to west. Each bay features a richly embellished cornice comprising egg-and-dart, modillion and bead-and-reel mouldings, a central panel with moulded border and corner paterae, and a central rose with circular wreath outer border. The northern bay has a circular dome lantern with leaded green-coloured patterned glass and a frieze with matching mouldings below, replacing the rose. Below a plain frieze, an architrave with egg-and-dart mouldings runs around the banking-hall walls. To the south this continues along the top of a later partition wall, where it is either a re-use of historic mouldings from the original south wall or a good replica. On the walls in each bay are three framed panels with corner paterae, the outer panels being narrower, and each pilaster likewise has a framed panel; on the east wall the panels occupy only the upper part. Centrally on the west wall is a bolection-moulded timber fire-surround with a modillion-bracketed mantel shelf. To the north are two openings: that on the left is a remnant of a historic opening with a pilaster, and that on the right was probably inserted at the time of the first rear extension. On the return of the left-hand opening is a large metal-framed window overlooking a small internal yard. To the north of this are a series of mid-20th-century and later extensions of lesser interest.

To the north-east of the banking hall, a later 20th-century door leads to a narrow staircase hall with a small window to the rear and roof access. The basement is accessed below the stairs via a granite staircase and comprises two small rooms with brick-lined walls and brick floors. The principal staircase is timber with spandrel panelling in the hall, simple newel posts and a panelled-in bannister arranged over two flights forming a dog-leg. A large timber-framed sash window is set on the west wall of the upper flight.

On the first floor, a mid-20th-century door leads to a narrow corridor with a central arch and access to the rear roof to the west. A further door opens to two rooms on the front of the building (south) and mid-20th-century WCs to the north-west. Each of the two rooms has two timber sash windows and moulded timber skirtings, with a moulded timber architrave to the mid-20th-century entrance door.