Clydesdale Bank

The Clydesdale Bank is a bank building constructed in 1878 for the Clydesdale Bank by Hetherington and Oliver of Carlisle. It is built from red sandstone ashlar on a chamfered plinth and features interval pilasters, string courses, and a pierced quatrefoil parapet. The slate roof is not visible from the street, and there are clustered columned ashlar ridge chimney stacks. The building has three storeys and seven bays.

The central entrance has 20th-century glazed doors set in a segmental-arched surround, flanked by paired polished granite colonnettes and topped with an overall overlight. On the left and right, there are plank doors with scrolled hinge brackets, each in moulded surrounds and topped with 2-light quatrefoil overlights, with the words OFFICE and OFFICES inscribed above each door. The windows are cross-mullioned, with ground floor windows featuring cusped lights under quatrefoils, while the upper floor windows have cusped headed upper lights and are set under segmental arches. The entrance has a 3-light window above, with 2-light windows elsewhere.

The interior has been extensively altered on the ground floor. Original drawings of the building can be found in the Cumbria County Record Office, and an engraving of the building in Carlisle Library is believed to have originated from the Builder magazine. This bank was the first Scottish provincial branch in England, which raised questions in Parliament.