Danske Bank, 39 Market Street, Lurgan, Co Armagh, BT66 6AB

Danske Bank, 39 Market Street, Lurgan, County Armagh

This is a two- and three-storey late Victorian bank building in red brick and sandstone, constructed between 1901 and 1903 as the Lurgan branch of the Northern Banking Company. It was designed by the Belfast-based architect Godfrey William Ferguson (c.1855–1939) and built by contractors J & R Thompson of Short Strand, Belfast, at a total cost of approximately £4,000. The building stands in a prominent position at the junction of Market Street and Carnegie Street in Lurgan town centre, within the historic main street and within a conservation area. It is L-shaped in plan, with a two-storey front range facing northeast and a three-storey return to the south, which originally housed the bank manager's residence.

Historical Background

The bank was built on a plot previously occupied by a house recorded in the 1890s valuations as the home of a Mary A. Comberton. In or just before 1900, as part of an urban improvement scheme, Lurgan's town commissioners purchased this and several neighbouring dwellings to the northwest — the former nos. 29–39 Market Street — along with all properties within Margery's Lane, a narrow passage to the southwest. This area had been judged unhealthy in a report of 1897, and the town council cleared it to create a new street from Market Street to Roger's Court, whose eastern half ran roughly along the line of the present Millennium Way. The Northern Banking Company acquired the site at the southeastern corner of the new thoroughfare, soon named Carnegie Street, for £1,600 in 1901, and the new branch opened in February 1903. Its completion gave the new opening off Market Street a suitably grand character, complemented by the equally ornate hotel and public bar at the present no. 25 Market Street, built for James McMullan in 1901.

On the building's completion, the Belfast News-Letter described it as follows: "The building is two-storeyed, the style of architecture being that known as 'Italian Renaissance', which lends itself to the purposes of a public building. The windows are designed with elegant proportions and according to the best classical authorities. They are all ornamented with richly-moulded stone architraves, and those on the upper storey are surmounted by moulded pediments, alternately circular and triangular, which give a pleasing variety. The ground floor is faced with V jointed white stone, ashlar chiseled on the face; the upper storey from the moulded sill course is faced with red brick, relieved stone dressings to the windows, and the whole finished with stone console terminating the green-slated roof. The same general design is observable in the chimneys, which are of brick, with massive white stone cornices and caps. In the bank entrance doorway a beautiful black and green sheeny polished granite has been introduced, and this, being richly moulded and finished with a moulded pediment enclosing a shield bearing the interlaced initial letters of the Northern Banking Company, Limited, forms a striking feature of the building. The entrance doors are of mahogany, swung on patent hydraulic hinges. Passing these doors, the vestibule, the floor of which is mosaic tiling, is reached, and opening from this are two doors, one for the public leading into bank offices, the other for the use of the staff, giving access to the several departments. The bank office, which is a lofty and spacious apartment, measuring about 30 feet by 20 feet, is worthy of visit. It is fitted out in mahogany, and the counter and desks are specially noticeable for their design, rich colouring, and finish. Attached to the building is the manager's residence, of commodious dimensions."

The Northern Banking Company merged with the Midland Bank in 1970, at which point it shortened its name to the Northern Bank, and was subsequently acquired by Danske Bank in 2013. The signage on the branch was updated accordingly in 1970 and 2013, with other variations in styling occurring between those dates.

Map evidence indicates the building retained its original form until at least 1975. Sometime between that date and 1991 — possibly around 1980 — the neighbouring property to the southwest (no. 41) was demolished and a narrow extension was added to that end of the building. It may have been at this point that the second doorway on Carnegie Street, which originally provided access to the manager's living quarters, was blocked up.

External Description

Materials throughout are smooth red clay brick and yellow sandstone to the main elevations, with brick laid in Flemish bond to the front and English garden wall bond to the rear. The original roofs are covered in Westmoreland slate; the flat-roofed extensions have a single-ply membrane covering. Rainwater goods are cast metal to the front and uPVC to the rear. Windows are generally one-over-one single-glazed sliding sash in painted timber, with some top-hung uPVC to the rear return and modern extensions.

Front Elevation (northeast) The principal elevation comprises an original two-storey, three-bay classical façade to the right and a Modernist two-storey infill bay to the left, added in the mid to late 20th century. The façade is splayed at the corner of Market Street and Carnegie Street, with the main entrance to the banking hall positioned at this angle.

At ground level the main façade is faced in rusticated sandstone, with ashlar stonework at plinth level and a string course at sill level. Above the sill the stonework is rusticated, and window surrounds feature bolection mouldings with keystone detail and a cornice at the head. A further string course marks the first-floor level. At first-floor level the walling is red brick in Flemish bond, with window surrounds similar to those below but with alternating segmental and triangular pediments to the heads. All windows are one-over-one timber sliding sash.

The main entrance is a square-headed doorway with a moulded surround in black granite and an ornate broken triangular pediment with moulded brackets, enclosing a decorative oval panel in red sandstone with scrolled edges and raised lettering reading "N B Co Ltd". The entrance doors are original painted timber double-leaf panelled doors with brass knobs. There is a small ramped access to the doorway finished in black square tiles, with modest painted metal guarding and a circular handrail. A modern painted metal or acrylic sign panel reading "Danske Bank" is located above the central window.

The Modernist infill bay to the left consists of vertical panels of granite and brown brick with a plain sandstone plinth and fascia panel. It incorporates two reproduction one-over-one sliding sash windows set into the granite panel, and two automated teller machines (ATMs) in the brick panel at ground level.

At eaves level there are decorative sandstone string courses and stone brackets supporting a painted metal ogee gutter; the downpipe is replacement painted metal. The roof is hipped and covered in Westmoreland slate, with one tall rectangular red-brick chimney to the left-hand side, which has decorative sandstone projections at the cap and red clay pots. There is one small rooflight on the roof slope.

Rear Elevation (southwest) The rear elevation is plainly detailed with red-brick walls in English garden wall bond. On the left at ground level there is an original single-storey gable with a modern escape door at its centre, a modern top-hung uPVC window to the right, and modern galvanised metal steps. Projecting brick courses at eaves level support a painted metal ogee gutter. The roof is hipped and covered in Westmoreland slate.

The gable of the return above the single-storey projection is also plainly detailed, with one square-headed window on the far right at each of the first- and second-floor levels. Window heads are formed in brick soldier course and cills are masonry. The first-floor window is top-hung uPVC with a metal grille; the second-floor window is a one-over-one painted timber sliding sash. Eaves have a painted timber fascia and soffit with a painted metal ogee gutter.

To the right at ground level is a large 20th-century flat-roofed extension abutting the single-storey gable and most of the rear elevation of the bank, noted as being of no architectural interest. Above this on the upper levels the original rear wall of the bank is visible to the left (one bay), and the rear wall of the 20th-century Modernist infill is visible to the right in plain smooth red brick. The original rear bank wall has a square-headed window at second-floor level with top-hung uPVC glazing, and a modern escape door below at first-floor level. This door opens onto a modern metal escape bridge at first-floor level with metal railings, leading to metal escape stairs on the southeast boundary. There is a small section of flat parapet with plain masonry coping at the re-entrant angle of the return and at the junction with the modern infill extension.

Side Elevation of Rear Return (southeast) This elevation has a mixture of square-headed openings at the upper levels, similar in detail to those elsewhere on the return. At ground level the wall is rendered, where a narrow external lightwell runs adjacent to the modern flat-roofed rear extensions. Windows are mainly top-hung uPVC with metal grilles. Eaves and roof are generally as elsewhere on the return. Rainwater goods are a mixture of painted metal and uPVC.

Side Elevation (northwest) This elevation is two storeys to the left and three storeys to the right, with a single-storey bay attached at the far right. The left-hand two-storey section is similar in character to the front façade and is two bays wide, with a large semi-circular arched opening to the right-hand bay. This arched opening, probably the original entrance to the bank manager's house, has a large keystone to the head and a plain ovolo architrave. It contains a round-headed window in its upper half and ashlar stonework to the lower half, possibly inserted at a later date.

The right-hand three-storey section has two narrow bays with square-headed windows featuring plain sandstone surrounds and one-over-one sliding sash windows, diminishing in size at second-floor level. Walls are red brick at all levels with a deep stone plinth below the ground-floor sill level. The eaves and roof are similar to the front elevation, with two chimneys of similar detail to that on the front — one centrally located and one to the right. At the far right there is a small single-storey bay with a pair of one-over-one sliding sash windows in similar detail to the rest of the elevation; the stone plinth is continuous with adjacent bays and there is a plain stone fascia at eaves level supporting a painted metal ogee gutter. The roof of this bay is hipped and in Westmoreland slate.

To the right of this elevation is the bank's yard, enclosed by a cement-rendered boundary wall with tall plain piers at the centre and a pair of replacement galvanised metal gates. The Carnegie Library (a separate listed building) is adjacent.

Side Elevation (southeast) This elevation is abutted by nos. 43–45 Market Street.

To the rear of the bank there is an enclosed yard with high walls and a tarmacadam ground finish. It is bounded to the southeast by the rear return and yard wall of the adjacent property at nos. 43–45 Market Street. Along Carnegie Street to the northwest there is a smooth rendered and red-brick wall with a gateway. The boundary walls to the southwest, adjoining the Carnegie Library, are of red brick and random rubble construction, with an original arched pedestrian gateway incorporating a painted metal gate.

Interior

Despite modernisation of the banking hall in the mid to late 20th century and the addition of modern extensions to the northeast and rear, the building retains a significant amount of its original internal character and detailing. Surviving features include the stairwell, original internal joinery, and plasterwork. The vestibule floor was originally finished in mosaic tiling. The bank office, measuring approximately 30 feet by 20 feet, was originally fitted out in mahogany, with the counter and desks noted at the time of completion for their design, rich colouring, and finish.

Setting and Group Value

The building occupies a prominent corner position in the historic centre of Lurgan and forms one of a pair of important corner buildings on the main street. It sits adjacent to the Carnegie Library and opposite the public house at 25 Market Street, itself a listed building of comparable architectural ambition, also dating from 1901. Together these buildings frame the junction of Market Street and Carnegie Street with considerable townscape significance.