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

A three-storey three-bay red-brick Ulster Bank, built 1904 to designs by Lepper and Fennell and located to the west side of Bridge Street in Banbridge town centre. Rectangular plan with lower two-storey return and annexe to rear. Hipped natural slate roof with red-brick chimneystacks having sandstone caps and five pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on dentilled eaves. Walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick with sandstone dressings and quoins to upper floors; channelled ashlar sandstone to ground floor on a rock-faced feather-edged granite plinth. Windows are 1/1 timber-framed sash with brick jack arches and sandstone keyblocks; segmental-headed to ground and second floor. Those to second floor have sandstone sills on corbel brackets; pedimented central window to first floor. The principal elevation faces east and is three openings wide at each floor. Ground floor has four Ionic columns on granite pedestal-piers flanking openings and is surmounted by a plain entablature with applied lettering reading “ULSTER BANK LIMITED” to frieze. To left is a twelve-paned red-wood timber door with brass door furniture and tall segmental-headed transom light. The south elevation is abutted by an adjoining building; top section is blank. The west elevation is fully abutted by the lower two-storey return. Return is brick over granite plinth with flush sandstone eaves course and sill course. Variety of fenestration to north elevation including a tripartite transom and mullioned window to ground and first floor left; that to ground floor has sill on corbel brackets. Ground floor window at left has a decorative balustrade apron set into plinth; above is a carved sandstone plaque depicting the Ulster Bank emblem. To far left is a twelve-panelled timber door with segmental-headed transom light accessed by a single bull-nosed granite step; louvered openings to plinth with segmental-headed label mould with keystone. The north elevation of the main block has four evenly-spaced windows at each floor. Setting Prominently sited at the junction of Bridge Street and Victoria Street in Banbridge town centre; street-fronted at a gradient. To rear is a small yard having former motor house and red-brick outbuilding. Bounded to south by a tall rubble stone wall. Car-park to western end of Victoria Street. Roof: Natural slate Walling: brick/sandstone Windows: timber RWG: Cast-iron