Ulster Bank, 14 High Street, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, BT78 1BJ

Ulster Bank is a three-storey stone bank built in 1909 at 14 High Street, Omagh. Designed by architects Blackwood and Jury, it is a purpose-built bank that combines classical detailing with Art Nouveau elements. The building displays high quality craftsmanship and ornamentation throughout, and despite some alterations, retains much of its original layout and many original architectural features.

The building is rectangular on plan and four windows wide, facing south onto High Street. Its most distinctive feature is a central breakfront, which interrupts the cornice and parapet. The breakfront has a shaped gablet topped with a "Hand of Ulster" cartouche. The roof is hipped natural slate with roll-top blue and black ridge tiles, with stone chimneystacks to east and west, each topped with a modillioned cornice. A limestone balustraded parapet with modillioned cornice runs around the building.

The principal south elevation is constructed in ashlar limestone over a plinth with quoins. A torus-moulded sill course and stringcourse at first-floor lintel level runs horizontally, with an entablature at ground floor. Windows throughout are segmental arch-headed painted timber 1/1 sashes with keyblocks and hoodmoulds. Upper-floor windows are framed with lugged architraves. The ground floor is detailed with Gibbs-blocking except at the breakfront, which features distinctively tapered Art Nouveau-style columns with foliated capitals in the window jambs.

The porch is accessed by a round-headed entrance opening with a varnished and stained timber door with moulded panels. A chamfered limestone lintel carries a lattice-glazed fanlight, flanked by lattice-glazed sidelights with moulded stone sills. The entrance is framed with Gibbs-blocking and a protruding keyblock and voussoirs, with a stop-ended hoodmould above. The porch's right cheek projects slightly from the principal elevation and is finished with a moulded parapet coping bearing ball finials at its ends.

The west elevation is partially abutted by the porch and modern additions. The linking block to the rear is constructed of Flemish-bonded red brick and is itself abutted by the original return. The return features a two-storey canted bay, multiple windows, and a projecting chimneybreast. A two-storey extension to the east of this linking block is also of Flemish-bonded red brick with limestone quoins over a splayed ashlar limestone plinth. Its ground floor right end contains a segmental arch-headed door with lattice-glazed fanlight and loop sidelights, all with deeply projecting hoodmoulds. The east elevation has multiple windows at ground, first and second floors, with an embossed fascia reading "ULSTER BANK LIMITED."

The building was erected on the site of a previous house, which was occupied in 1906 by Hugh Buchanan. The Ulster Bank opened in its current purpose-built premises in November 1909, with the valuation rising from £7 to £180 (later reduced to £140 following an appeal). The building represents the Art Nouveau classicism characteristic of Blackwood and Jury's work, notably featuring the distinctive bulging Art Nouveau columns and balusters for which Rowan commended the design.

The bank is situated on the north side of High Street between the Tyrone County Club to the west and the Omagh Civic Centre to the east. To the rear lies an enclosed tarmac car park, with the modern Strule Arts Centre and River Strule beyond. The building stands within Omagh conservation area.