37-39 Bridge Street, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3JL

The current building at 37-39 Bridge Street is a two-storey modern mid-terrace bank building constructed around 1990. It replaces a significant 19th-century structure that has since been demolished.

The former building on this site was originally constructed around 1870 as a private dwelling and was first recorded in the Annual Revisions in 1877, valued at £50 and let by the Marquis of Downshire to Dr. Robert Brown McClelland. McClelland, a Doctor of Medicine, resided at the property until his death in October 1901. The 1901 Census recorded him as 73 years old and Baptist, living there with his wife Christina. The Census Building Return described the property as a second-class dwelling and shop comprising six rooms, with outoffices to the rear including two stables, a cow house, dairy, and store.

Following McClelland's death, the property passed to William Chancellor, also a doctor. By the 1911 Census, the house was recorded as a surgery and dwelling, though it then possessed 14 rooms despite the earlier record of six. Chancellor occupied the property until 1918, when both number 37 and number 39 came into the possession of the Belfast Banking Company Limited. From that time, the building served as a residence for the Bank Manager, with J. C. Wray recorded as the first manager to reside there in 1918.

By 1969, the building was described as a fine High-Victorian stucco house of around 1880, featuring a heavy two-storey central oriel with coupled central windows divided by columns. The stucco finish included four small medallions of a Saracen's head bearing the McClelland crest and motto 'Sapit Qui Reputat' (He is wise who reflects). The building also possessed particularly good starry iron spikes on the ground floor window sills to discourage loungers. The First Survey record from 1969 noted it as a three-storey structure with a slated roof, stucco finish with medallions, moulded architraves to semi-circular and segmental-headed windows, paterae, pinnacles, and a balustrade above the cornice at roof level.

The Belfast Banking Company merged with Northern Banking Company Limited in 1970 to form Northern Bank Limited. The building was listed in 1976 but was demolished around 1990 and replaced with the present modern structure. Listed Building Consent for demolition was granted, and the current bank building now occupies the site. The property is centrally located in a historic terrace adjacent to The Cut.