Bank of Ireland, 92-100 Royal Avenue, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 1DL

A four storey Art Deco bank building with basement and tower on canted corner sitting on the northwest corner of Royal Avenue and North Street. Built in 1930 by J. V. Downes of McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin. The flat roof is unseen behind parapet, the curved roof of the corner tower is copper sheeting. The walls are ashlar Portland Stone, the parapet has stepped 'keystone' blocks; the walls have full height pilasters and slit recesses, decorative panels; the tiered corner tower has stepped corners. The windows have flat lintels; the main windows are diminishing and have decorated metal apron panels decorated with ears of corn at second floor and at first floor level similarly decorated with "BANK OF IRELAND" under, set in three storey stepped stone recesses, the lintels are decorated with rectangles; over each opening is a panel decorated with ears of corn in low relief. The windows are metal framed, generally 6 pane with top hung lights. The doors are metal framed with decorative framing set in front of glazing, each doorway has double doors with an overlight. The southeast elevation has a canted corner to the south rising to a tower, secondary entrance bay to the north rising as a pier to the fourth floor; between these the fourth floor is set back behind the parapet. The corner is one window wide, the remaining elevation is four windows wide. The canted corner has a window opening rising from first to second floor, a window opening to the fourth floor and the tower has vertical slit recesses and a square clock; the sides of the central entrance way is framed by chamfered pilasters, a panel over has an exaggerated keystone and original carved in relief, painted black lettering “BANK OF IRELAND”, a figurative head of the Greek goddess Medusa in low stone relief over doorway, granite steps. The three windows to the right of the corner rise vertically between floors, the extreme right hand windows to the first and second floors are 6 paned, the ground floor 3 paned window sits over the doorway which has a flat, stepped architrave of slightly raised stone incorporating a panel over with original carved in relief, painted black letters “BANK OF IRELAND BUILDINGS”. Basement windows are multi paned. The southwest elevation generally matches the southeast elevation except it has two full height windows and the openings in the northern stonework are vertical slits with 3 paned windows. The northwest elevation is abutted by a two storey building. The northeast elevation is abutted by a modern building. Setting The Bank of Ireland is a landmark building forming a visual stop at the end of Royal Avenue and North Street. It sits on a major junction which has listed buildings on each corner: HB26/50/068 to NE, HB26/50/186 to SE, HB26/50/184 to SW. Roof: Copper/unseen. Walls: stone. Windows: Metal RWG: Unseen