Danske Bank, 12-15 Donegall Square West, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 6JA

The Danske Bank at the corner of Donegall Square West and Howard Street is a six-storey bank built around 1972 to designs by Building Design Partnership, a bold exercise in mid-twentieth-century modernism distinguished by its pronounced vertical emphasis and high quality of surviving architectural detail.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing east onto Donegall Square West with a secondary elevation facing south onto Howard Street. It features an overhanging flat roof above a setback glazed sixth floor. The principal east elevation is six windows wide with an off-centre entrance bay. The south elevation is five windows wide, detailed consistently with the east elevation, and culminates in a full-height glazed corner bay at its southern end that returns onto the east elevation. The north elevation, fronting Wellington Street, is six windows wide and similarly detailed. The west elevation is blank, finished with ribbed concrete panels and partly abutted by the adjoining building.

The external walls are clad in cream Travertine arranged vertically, with a polished granite plinth course splayed to the windows. Portland limestone vertical courses frame vertical curtain glazing strips. Recessed full-height slender window openings are fitted with dark aluminium frames and panels.

The building was originally constructed as the Northern Bank's head office and main city branch, completed in 1976. It replaced an earlier Northern Bank building of 1903 designed by Young & Mackenzie, a pair of Georgian town houses, and a linen warehouse. The architects Robert J Greenslade of Building Design Partnership won a 1977 RIBA award for the building. The contractor was F B McKee and Co Ltd of Belfast.

The design was constrained by planning requirements protecting the dominance of the City Hall, limiting the height to the cornice line of the Scottish Provident building. The building was designed to accommodate open-plan landscaped offices made possible by air conditioning and artificial lighting. Bronze-tinted glass was employed to control heat loss and gain and reduce glare and traffic noise, with glazed areas kept to a minimum for this reason. The RIBA jury noted that the building achieved the difficult task of stating its importance as a major financial headquarters without challenging the City Hall's dominance or adding to the visual discord of the square's mixture of styles and periods.

The company was acquired by Danish-based Danske Bank Group in 2005. The building is located on the west side of Donegall Square within a conservation area. It represents an excellent example of distinguished modern infill architecture, with Portland stone facades providing a severe counterpoint to surrounding buildings.