National Westminster Bank

The National Westminster Bank is a bank building dating from 1866, with 20th-century alterations. It was designed by Rawlins Gould for Robert Bower, the proprietor of the East Riding Bank. The building is constructed in an Italianate style. The front is faced with sandstone ashlar, while the rear is of pink and cream mottled brick, all beneath a slate roof. The 7-window front is two storeys high and sits on a plinth. There are three entrances: one central, and one at each end. The doorcases feature pilasters on pedestals and plain entablatures with console cornice hoods. The central doorcase is Tuscan in style; the outer ones have moulded imposts beneath coved triglyph blocks. The doors are of six raised-and-fielded panels, with segment-headed overlights in keyed architraves. Windows are round-headed single-pane sashes with aprons. Those on the ground floor are within Gibbsian surrounds, and those on the first floor are in raised architraves, all featuring grooved console keyblocks. There is a moulded first-floor band and a moulded sillband on each floor, with the first-floor sillband acting as a coping to an attached balustrade with urn finials beneath the central window. A moulded impost band runs across both floors, continuing across the doorheads on the ground floor to form transoms to the overlights. There is a moulded eaves band and a heavy cornice on console brackets, beneath a sunk panelled parapet with urn finials on square piers. Originally, the building provided premises for the East Riding Bank, living accommodation for the first cashier, Thomas Reed, and offices rented by the firm of solicitors, Messrs Walker and Langborne.