Ulster Bank, 9 Upper Cross Street, Larne, Co Antrim, BT40 1SZ

Ulster Bank, 9 Upper Cross Street, Larne

This former bank and attached banking house was built in 1931, designed by T.W. Henry of Belfast, a noted Irish architect, and constructed by F.B. McKee & Co of Belfast. It occupies a prominent corner position on the main street of the town, facing south-east at the junction, with a listed town hall directly facing its east elevation, a two-storey public house to the north, and a two-storey shop to the west. The building is notable for the unusual cream-coloured ceramic block cladding applied to almost all of its exterior walls — an uncommon material choice for a building of this type — as well as for its Italianate classical character combined with Arts and Crafts ornamentation, its highly unusual glazing bar treatment to the banking hall windows, and its retention of original interior tiling. The building was partly refurbished internally around 1991.

Architectural Overview

The building is one and two storeys, arranged on an L-shaped plan on a corner site, in a free Classical style. The roofs are hipped and covered in green Westmoreland slates in diminishing courses. The walls throughout are clad in cream-coloured ceramic blocks with a moulded granite plinth at the base. Moulded cast iron gutters sit on projecting eaves courses carried on brackets, all in faience. The main entrance is placed at the angled corner facing south-east, though the principal elevation of the building faces directly south.

South Elevation

The south elevation presents a two-storey bank house on the left, with a single-storey banking hall extending to the right and set into the angle of the two-storey house. The two-storey section is asymmetrical and consists of three parts: a two-storey canted bay to the left, a central entrance bay, and a projecting rectangular two-storey bay to the right.

The canted bay to the left has three rectangular windows on each floor, one in each face of the bay. All windows are timber sliding sash, vertically hung, one-over-one with horns. First floor windows have projecting cills and panelled surrounds with raised circular mouldings to the top corners; ground floor windows have splayed cills and roll-moulded surrounds. The central ground floor window of this bay has an autobank installation set into an obscured lower pane, with a segmental canopy attached.

The central entrance bay has a large rectangular window at first floor level, divided into six panes and containing leaded glazing, with a panelled surround matching those elsewhere on the first floor. Below this, a single-storey porch sits in the angle with the rectangular bay to the right. The porch contains a recessed segmental arched entrance with the original panelled door in varnished oak, set to the right of a small rectangular window with leaded glazing. Original brass letterboxes inscribed "Ulster Bank Ltd" are retained. Above the two-storey section, there is a moulded dentil cornice with a balustraded parapet, all in faience. A rectangular cast iron downpipe with a rectangular hopper is located to the left.

Three granite steps lead up to the house doorway, with a granite plinth wall extending across the front of the house to the left, surmounted by original iron railings. The corner pier to the right is square section and of concrete. The plinth and railings return to the centre of the canted bay to enclose two concrete-paved steps up to the autobank installation. To the left, the railings terminate at a large square pier in smooth cement render, lined and blocked, on a granite base. This is one of a pair of piers containing a ledged timber gate screen, and has cement repairs to broken corners at the base. To the left of the gateway, a short length of smooth rendered wall terminates in a large rusticated concrete pier.

The rectangular bay projecting forward to the right of the central entrance bay is two windows wide on each floor. First floor windows match those described above; ground floor windows are similar to those elsewhere on the ground floor but are surmounted by triangular pediments with dentil courses.

Banking Hall — South and East Faces

The single-storey banking hall extends to the right and is set back slightly from the two-storey section. Its flat roof is covered in lead sheet behind a parapet. The faience cladding to the walls features channelled rustication, with a modillion cornice and a balustraded parapet above on the south face.

The principal window to the south face is a wide rectangular four-light window with recessed square colonnettes to the sides and a splayed cill. The windows are metal-framed, later painted, arranged as two pairs around a central panelled mullion. The fixed rectangular lights have rectangular transom lights above containing highly unusual ornamental arcading that incorporates radiating spindles and diminutive laurel wreaths to the spandrel grilles. The transoms carry bead and reel ornament. To the left of this window is a circular cast iron downpipe with large ornamented brackets and a curvilinear hopper decorated with a leafy design in shallow relief. To the right of the window, a modern bank sign is attached.

The main entrance to the banking hall is set at the angled corner to the right, within an angled recess. A portico of partly fluted Doric columns supports a triangular pediment containing a shield bearing the "red hand" symbol, coloured red. The pediment has modillion courses. Behind the pediment of the portico, the parapet steps up to centre without balustrading. The main frieze face has a modern plastic panel attached bearing the bank's name and symbol in raised letters. The doorway has a moulded surround with fascicle ornamentation, flanked on each side by partly fluted Doric pilasters corresponding with the portico columns. A datestone inscribed "1931" is set in the head of the doorway, and there are panelled reveals all round. Granite pedestals to the columns and pilasters align with the plinth around the building. Four granite steps lead up to the doorway, with a matching doorstep; the bottom step is of curved plan, embracing the column pedestals. Modern tubular steel handrails are fitted on each side of the steps.

The east elevation of the banking hall is similar to the south face and features an identical four-light metal window, plus one additional window of the same detailed design to its right, the two separated by a rusticated pier. To the right of the single window is an original downpipe with ornamented brackets and a decoratively treated hopper matching those elsewhere.

West Elevation

The west wall of the bank house is two storeys and three windows wide on each floor. The first floor has three rectangular sash windows as elsewhere on the south front; the ground floor has three rectangular sash windows with splayed cills, iron bars attached, and the window to the extreme right is surmounted by a triangular pediment. Moulded cast iron gutters and cast iron downpipes with trefoil brackets are present. One chimney is centrally placed, with a projecting string course and cornice all in faience, retaining the original red terracotta pots.

To the left, a short screen wall contains a ledged timber door and abuts the front gable of a single-storey garage projecting at right angles to the left-hand extremity of the house. The garage gable faces south and has a large rectangular doorway fitted with four folding ledged timber doors, each incorporating four glazed panes of translucent glass — recent replacements, presumably to the original pattern. The west side of the garage block has a circular section cast iron downpipe, which is cracked.

Enclosed Yard and Rear

Passing through the yard screen doorway leads into an enclosed yard. To the west within the yard, the west wall of the east wing of the house is two storeys with two rectangular sash windows to the first floor and two to the ground floor with a continuous projecting cill. There is a ledged timber door with four translucent glazed panels integral with a glazed sidelight and fanlight screen, and to the extreme left a ledged timber door with a single translucent glazed pane opening into a former toilet with white glazed tiles to the internal walls. A moulded cast iron gutter with a polygonal cast iron hopper and circular downpipe serve this section.

The rear (south) wall of the house within the yard is two storeys with two rectangular sash windows to the first floor, the left-hand one having a plain unmoulded surround; moulded cast iron gutter, polygonal hopper, and cast iron downpipe are fitted. The east side of the garage to the west within the yard is roofed in green Westmoreland slates in regular courses and has a rectangular ledged timber door and a rectangular timber fixed light with a top-hung vent in translucent glass, served by a PVC hopper and downpipe.

To the north within the yard stands a single-storey store with exposed brick walls to the interior, a reinforced concrete roof covered with loose stones, and ceramic finish to the exterior walls. It has one window — a rectangular timber fixed light with a top-hung vent in translucent glass — with a PVC gutter and downpipe. The entrance is in the west side within a covered area of the yard, accessed through a rectangular ledged timber door. The covered area is floored in concrete with a hipped rooflight over.

Boundary walling within the yard: to the south, a smooth cement-rendered wall, lined and blocked with square piers of similar finish on a granite base, with double stained ledged timber doors; to the east, a tongued and grooved dark-stained fence with a small tongued and grooved wicket gate; to the west, a dry-dashed rendered wall with a finish of small black stone chippings, buttresses at intervals, and a rusticated concrete pier to the left-hand extremity; to the north, a similar dry-dashed wall abutting the rear of the garage.

East Elevation

The east elevation facing the street comprises the single-storey banking hall to the left and the two-storey end wall of the east wing of the banking house to the right. Stepping slightly forward to the right, the two-storey end wall of the east wing is two windows wide on each floor, with windows similar to the rectangular bay on the entrance front. To the right-hand extremity, a single-storey doorscreen in faience cladding contains a ledged timber door. Behind the banking hall on this elevation, the east wall of the main house has a steeply pitched hipped roof and a prominent square chimney detailed as elsewhere. To the right, the south wall of the east wing is also set back behind the banking hall and is of similar character, with a similar chimney. The north face of the east wing is clad in faience with a dentil cornice and cast iron guttering; original polygonal hopper and cast iron downpipe are retained.