Former Northern Bank, 56 Bridge Street, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3JL

Former Northern Bank, 56 Bridge Street, Banbridge

This is a former bank building in the Edwardian free-style, constructed in 1906 to designs by William Godfrey Ferguson and located on the west side of Bridge Street at its junction with Downshire Road in Banbridge town centre. It is a two-storey-with-attic, three-bay, end-terrace half-brick building, L-shaped on plan, with a gabled bay projection to the north. To the rear there is a full-height extension and a single-storey-over-basement hipped annexe with a flat-roof extension. The building is a good example of early 20th-century bank architecture, retaining much of its historic fabric and character, and is of particular significance in the context of bank architecture in Northern Ireland.

Exterior

The roof is hipped natural slate, with tall red-brick chimneystacks, raised stone skews, and cast-iron rainwater goods on dentilled eaves. The walling combines band-rusticated sandstone to the ground floor on a rock-faced granite plinth with Flemish-bonded red brick to the upper floors, with sandstone dressings throughout. There is a continuous sill course at first-floor level and an ashlar sandstone frieze to the centre bay.

The principal elevation faces east and is composed of a central bay flanked by two narrower bays. The flanking bays have segmental-headed broken-bed pediments framing oculi in stone surrounds with exaggerated keystones; these pediments rise from brick piers banded with dressed sandstone, framing the first-floor windows to the left and right. The central bay has a dormer window to the attic and two windows at first-floor level. The right bay has a round-headed window to the attic and a segmental-headed window at first-floor level.

At ground-floor level on the east elevation, the central bay contains a Venetian window; to the right is a round-headed window in a chamfered surround. The left bay mirrors this arrangement but incorporates the main entrance: a six-panelled timber door with bolection moulding and beaded muntin set in a polished marble surround with a cornice, surmounted by a round-headed transom light in a chamfered reveal with a keyblock.

Ground-floor windows throughout are round-headed replacement timber casements set in alcove surrounds with moulded sandstone architraves and keyblocks, and with original railings to the sills. At first-floor level the windows are 1-over-1 timber-framed sliding sashes in lugged sandstone surrounds with three-stage keyblocks; the outer first-floor windows are segmental-headed with decorative keyblocks, broken pediments, and console brackets. Oculi appear at attic level.

The east elevation also features a Venetian window to the ground floor of the centre bay, with a chamfered surround and keyblock to the central opening and a moulded surround, keyblock, and cornice to the flanking windows.

The south elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The west (rear) elevation has a projecting chimneybreast and windows at attic and first-floor level to the left; the right bay similarly has windows at attic and first-floor level, with a later extension to its left that incorporates a 1-over-1 leaded-and-stained glass window at attic level. At ground-floor level the single-storey-over-basement hipped annexe abuts to the left, with a flat-roof extension of no architectural interest. The north elevation of this annexe has tripartite 1-over-1 windows, the outer openings being narrower.

The north elevation has a full-height gabled projection to the right, constructed entirely in brick, with an oculus to the attic, two windows at first-floor level, and two round-headed windows with lugged stone surrounds and keyblocks at ground-floor level. The exposed section to the east has a window at first-floor level and a five-panelled timber door with a transom light set in a moulded sandstone surround with a three-stage keyblock; this entrance is reached via bull-nosed steps in groups of three. The left bay has a window at first-floor level.

Setting

The building is prominently sited at the junction of Bridge Street and Downshire Road, forming part of a largely mid-19th-century mixed terrace. A ramped pedestrian access runs along the front from south to north, enclosed by a parapet wall topped with metal railings. To the rear is a bitmac car park enclosed by a rubble stone wall with coping stones topped by modern metal railings; replacement rustic brick piers support a modern metal gate.

History and Significance

The building was constructed in 1906–7 as a branch of the Northern Bank, replacing an earlier bank building on the adjacent site. Its designer, William Godfrey Ferguson, was a former pupil of Charles Lanyon and served as architect to the Northern Banking Company, designing a series of branches around the turn of the 20th century in Belfast and in provincial towns across Counties Donegal, Derry, Armagh, Leitrim, Roscommon, Tyrone, and Cavan.

The construction of the new building reflected the Northern Bank's confidence in Banbridge as a flourishing commercial centre. There was perhaps also an element of rivalry in the fact that both the Northern and Ulster Banks completed new branches in the town during the opening decade of the 20th century. The previous bank premises had become inadequate for the volume of business, and the adjoining piece of ground — formerly used as a stonecutter's yard and lying some depth below street level — was earmarked for development.

In February 1906 the Irish Builder reported that the Northern Bank was about to issue the building contract to limited competition, with an approximate cost of £3,000. John Fegan of Belfast was appointed contractor. Valuation records for 1907 record the new bank as being in progress, and by 1908 it was listed as a "Manager's House, Bank Office and yard" valued at £105. As was typical of banking houses of this period, the building included residential accommodation for the manager.

Contemporary valuer's notes describe a three-and-a-half-storey building with a two-storey rear return and outbuildings in the yard. A kitchen was housed in the rear return at basement level. The ground-floor storey was faced with Giffnock ashlar on a base course of Newry granite; the upper storey used Laganvale facing brick with Giffnock dressings, cornice, and pediments. Polished red granite was used in the jambs of the bank office entrance, and the interior was fitted throughout with fumed Austrian oak.

The building first appears on the fourth-edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903–18. The 1911 census records that the resident manager at that time was 48-year-old George William Waddell, who lived on the premises with his wife, seven of their nine children, a governess, and a general servant. In the First General Revaluation of 1933–4 the building was revalued at £120.

An editorial in the Irish Builder in 1910 noted that the prosperous state of banking in Ireland had been demonstrated for several years by new branches appearing in principal towns throughout Ireland, particularly in Ulster, and that the Northern Bank was considered especially noteworthy for its enterprise in building branches. Photographs of the present building and several others in a similar style were published at that time.

The building was listed in 1978 and was subsequently taken over by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, who added a flat-roofed extension to the rear. In 2000, redecoration, re-roofing, and repairs were carried out, including the construction of the pedestrian access ramp. Historic photographs confirm that the exterior remains largely as originally built, though the original interior has been altered. The building is currently in use as offices and is in the ownership of a housing association.