Northern Bank, 27 Main Street, Armoy, Ballymoney, County Antrim, BT53 8SL

Northern Bank, 27 Main Street, Armoy, is a relatively plain two-storey terraced bank with manager's quarters, originally built as a house in 1886. It is a good example of an early to mid-20th century provincial bank in which the application of institutional Baroque detailing does not overwhelm the building's relatively simple domestic appearance, allowing it to continue to blend in with its surroundings.

The building stands on the west side of Main Street, with its asymmetrical front elevation facing east. The ground floor is divided into two distinct parts. To the right is the bank front, comprising an entrance to the left and three large windows to its right. The entrance takes the form of a relatively tall flat-arched opening containing a panelled timber double door, which covers a modern glazed door, together with a plain rectangular fanlight. The entrance is embellished with Baroque detailing, including a moulded shouldered surround, a frieze with scroll ends and a swag moulding, and a segmental tympanum. The three windows are evenly spaced and have timber sash frames with plate glass. Directly above the windows there is a moulded string course, and above that the bank signboard, which has raised plastic letters, probably illuminated from within. A moulded cornice course sits above the signboard. The bank front is finished in rusticated render and painted. A plastic projecting bank sign, also probably lit from within, is fixed just to the left of the entrance.

To the left of the bank front are three evenly spaced windows, slightly taller and narrower than those to the bank front itself but with similar frames. These windows have moulded surrounds. At first-floor level there are six unevenly spaced windows, similar to those on the left side of the ground floor but without the surrounds. The façade outside the bank front is finished in painted lined render. The north gable has no openings and is finished in unpainted cement render.

The rear elevation is more utilitarian in character. To the left there is a relatively large single-storey gabled projection, in the south face of which are two windows with modern timber frames and security bars. To the right of the projection, at ground-floor level on the main rear elevation, there is a doorway with a modern timber and glazed door and a narrow sidelight, followed by two identical windows. Further to the right, set within a large recess, there is a doorway with a timber sheeted door and a window with a modern timber frame. At first-floor level there are five unevenly spaced windows. The three windows to the left and centre are the same size and have similar frames to those on the ground floor, apart from the far left window, which has a fixed timber frame with multiple Georgian-style panes. The two windows to the right differ in size but both have frames similar to those at ground-floor level. The rear elevation and the projection are finished in unpainted lined cement render.

The gabled roof is slated and carries four unevenly spaced ridge chimneystacks, all of which are rendered and have moulded corbelling. There is a small skylight on the east side of the roof and another on the west side. The roof of the rear projection is also slated and has an overhang with plain bargeboards, boxed-in eaves, and curved timber brackets. The rainwater goods are cast-iron; to the front there is a square downspout attached to the wall with brackets bearing oval mouldings.

To the rear there is a relatively large yard, now disused and largely covered in weeds. At the west end of the yard stands a single-storey gabled outbuilding with rubble walls and a slated roof. On its east elevation there is a window, then a door, another door, and then another window; the windows are largely frameless and the doors are badly dilapidated. This outbuilding is in poor condition. The south side of the yard is enclosed by a high rubble wall.

The site is shown as developed on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832, when it was occupied by two single-storey thatched dwellings. These were demolished in 1879 to 1880 to make way for the present building, although according to the valuation records the property does not appear to have been completed until 1886. The new building was first occupied by a Samuel Peacock, who is listed as a draper in Bassett's directory of 1888, suggesting that part of the building was used as a shop, although the valuations describe it simply as a house. Samuel Peacock remained in residence until sometime after 1930. Valuation books for this area after 1935 to 1936 are not currently open to public consultation, making it difficult to establish when the building was converted to a branch of the Northern Bank. The character of the bank front and the internal detailing suggest the conversion could have taken place before 1930, though the absence of information in the valuations appears to argue against this. The Northern Bank had a part-time branch in Armoy from at least 1888, recorded as opening for two hours each Wednesday in 1905, but it is uncertain from which premises that branch operated.