Ulster Bank, 22 Bridge Street, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3JT

Ulster Bank, 22 Bridge Street, Banbridge

This is a three-storey, three-bay red-brick bank building, constructed in 1904–5 to designs by Lepper & Fennell of Waring Street, Belfast. It stands on the west side of Bridge Street in Banbridge town centre, prominently sited at the junction with Victoria Street, street-fronted on a gradient. The building is a good example of an early 20th-century Ulster Bank branch in the favoured classical style, demonstrating both the continuing growth of Ulster Bank Ltd and the commercial expansion and prosperity of Banbridge at the turn of the 20th century. Quantities were prepared by W H Stephens & Son of Donegall Square North, Belfast. Lepper & Fennell carried out various works for the Ulster Bank between 1900 and 1905, including a new branch on York Street, Belfast. The architectural historian C.E.B. Brett described the building as "a modest but not unpleasing academic exercise in the classical manner."

Architectural Description

The building has a rectangular plan with a lower two-storey return and annexe to the rear. The roof is hipped natural slate with red-brick chimneystacks having sandstone caps and five pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods sit on dentilled eaves. The walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick with sandstone dressings and quoins to the upper floors; the ground floor is faced in channelled ashlar sandstone on a rock-faced feather-edged granite plinth. Windows are 1/1 timber-framed sash with brick jack arches and sandstone keyblocks; those to the ground and second floors are segmental-headed. Second-floor windows have sandstone sills on corbel brackets, and the central first-floor window is pedimented.

The principal elevation faces east and is three openings wide at each floor. At ground floor level, four Ionic columns on granite pedestal-piers flank the openings and are surmounted by a plain entablature with applied lettering reading "ULSTER BANK LIMITED" to the frieze. To the left is a twelve-paned redwood timber door with brass door furniture and a tall segmental-headed transom light.

The south elevation is abutted by an adjoining building, with the top section left blank. The west elevation is fully abutted by the lower two-storey return, which is brick over a granite plinth with a flush sandstone eaves course and sill course.

The north elevation includes a variety of fenestration: a tripartite transom and mullioned window to the ground and first floor at the left, with the ground-floor example having its sill on corbel brackets. At ground floor left there is a decorative balustrade apron set into the plinth, and above it a carved sandstone plaque depicting the Ulster Bank emblem. To the far left is a twelve-panelled timber door with a segmental-headed transom light, accessed by a single bull-nosed granite step. The plinth contains louvered openings with segmental-headed label moulds with keystones. The north elevation of the main block has four evenly spaced windows at each floor.

Setting and Outbuildings

To the rear is a small yard containing a former motor house and a red-brick outbuilding. The site is bounded to the south by a tall rubble stone wall, with a car park at the western end of Victoria Street.

Historical Background

The Ulster Banking Company commenced business in Belfast on 1 July 1836, with arrangements for several branch openings — including Banbridge — already nearly complete. Banbridge was at that time a highly significant centre of the linen trade, making it an obvious early location for a branch. The first Ulster Bank branch in Banbridge opened on 1 January 1837. Robert Boyd was the first manager, with John Scott engaged as a learner at no salary in his first year, £20 in his second year, and £30 in his third. Boyd died in 1846 and was replaced by Richard P. McKee, former pro-manager at the branch. When McKee died in 1879 he was recorded as the oldest officer in the bank, having entered service in 1836 some weeks before the bank opened for public business.

The bank's first office was in Newry Street. Around 1846 new premises were obtained on the west side of Bridge Street, where the bank remained until the volume of business made a new branch necessary. A suitable site became available, also in Bridge Street, and tenders for the new building were opened in January 1904. Both the Northern and Ulster Banks completed new branches in Banbridge in the opening decade of the 20th century, reflecting the commercial expansion of the period. The new Ulster Bank branch opened for business on 22 June 1905.

As was customary for banking houses of this period, the building was constructed with accommodation for the manager, who lived on the premises. The building entered valuation records in 1906 as a "Manager's house, bank office, yard and small garden," valued at £120, replacing a pair of earlier houses on the site. The valuer noted that part was rented for £10 per annum and part purchased for £400, with the total cost of construction recorded as £4,000.

The manager's ground-floor accommodation comprised a kitchen, scullery, pantry, "lift pantry," coal store, and WC. The first floor contained a dining room, drawing room, breakfast room, bathroom and WC, two bedrooms, and a pantry. The second floor had two bedrooms and a maid's bedroom. The 1911 census records the resident branch manager as John Alexander, who lived at the bank with his wife and three young children; the family employed a governess from Dublin and a general domestic servant.

A motor house was added to the plot in 1931, raising the valuation to £138. In the First General Revaluation of 1933–4 the valuation was raised again to £155. The valuer at that time noted the "large and well-fitted public office (counter and fittings in mahogany)," the manager's private office, strong room, and lavatory accommodation at the front. The living accommodation was at the rear and over the bank, accessible either from the bank itself or by a separate entrance from the side street. The building was described as "very substantially built... Imposing elevation in ashlar stone and red brick. All in first class condition." However, the valuer also observed that "the site is rather narrow and owing to difficulty of lighting there is much waste space in excessively large landings &c in dwelling portion," and that the kitchen and dining rooms were on different floors.

Valuation records show a three-storey public office and dwelling to the front with a two-storey extension to the rear containing the stairs and strong room, and further two-storey and single-storey returns at the rear containing the kitchen, scullery, and pantry. Outbuildings in the yard included a WC, coal store, and the garage added in 1931. The bank buildings were modernised in 1961. The building remains in use as a branch of Ulster Bank.