Northern Bank, 12 Edward Road, Whitehead, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 9QB

Northern Bank, Whitehead

This two-bay two-storey Italianate bank building was constructed in 1904 to designs by architect Godfrey Ferguson and built by Laverty & Son. It is located on the south side of Edward Road at the corner of Kings Road in Whitehead town centre, within the Whitehead Conservation Area. The building remains well preserved and is considered one of the more significant structures in the conservation area.

The building is rectangular in plan with a modern single-storey flat-roofed extension to the north-east. The hipped roof is covered in natural slate and sits behind parapet walling. Red brick chimneys feature moulded sandstone cornices topped with original clay pots. The walls are constructed in Flemish bonded red brick over a block-marked sandstone plinth that rises to platband level at sill height. Rusticated sandstone quoins mark the corners, and a sandstone frieze with dentilled cornice runs to the parapet.

Windows throughout are square-headed timber-framed 1/1 sliding sash units set in sandstone surrounds with a continuous sill course.

The principal elevation faces west. A pedimented breakfront on the left features a Serliano window arrangement with stepped sandstone surround and cornicing at ground floor, surmounted at first floor by two windows each with a key-block. An oculus window with timber framing sits within the pediment apex. The right bay contains, at left, a round-arched-headed opening with stepped sandstone surround and key-block housing an original timber six-panelled entrance door with plain glazed fanlight. Two windows occupy the ground floor to the right, with three windows at first floor level.

The north elevation also features a pedimented breakfront on the left. At ground floor, a central round-arched-headed window is flanked to either side by narrow square-headed windows, all with cornicing and stepped sandstone surrounds. A single keyed window sits at first floor, with an oculus to the pediment apex. The right bay includes a porch with segmental-headed parapet at ground floor, a round-arched-headed entrance opening with rusticated sandstone surround and key-block (now blocked) surmounted by a canopy supported on console brackets, and a square-headed window with cornice to east and west. At first floor, an exposed wall contains a single keyed window. The extension abuts this elevation on the left.

The east elevation is abutted at ground floor by the extension. The exposed first floor wall comprises a pedimented breakfront to the centre containing a pair of windows, with flanking bays each containing a single window.

The south elevation is abutted by the adjoining house at 17 Kings Road, with a blank exposed wall above.

The building is accessed directly from Kings Road to the west. The site is bounded from Edward Road to the north by a concrete plinth wall surmounted by cast-iron railings.

Historical records show a previous building occupied the site from at least 1880. Valuation revisions dating from 1880 to 1893 document a house, office and land leased from John Raphael. By 1903, the occupier was listed as Anne Wilson, with the property recorded as house and office. The 1906 entry records the property as "bank-house, office and yard" with the Northern Banking Company listed as occupier, valued at £90. The building first appears on the 1921 Ordnance Survey map.

The extent of listing includes the bank building and the stone plinth wall with cast-iron railings.