First Trust Bank, 30 Greencastle Street, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4ND

Free-standing two-storey-plus-attic bank building in the Edwardian Freestyle manner, built between 1913 and 1915 to designs by architect Nicholas Fitzsimons (1869–c.1945). It stands on the northern side of Greencastle Street and is constructed largely in local granite, making it a prominent feature in the town. The building was erected on the site of a former Orange Hall for the Provincial Bank of Ireland, and originally comprised the bank, a manager's house, and offices. Fitzsimons was also a president of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects and designed other notable buildings including the Smiley Cottage Hospital in Larne (1903), the Carnegie Free Library in Larne (1905), and Kilmore House, Glenarriff (1907).

Roofs and Chimneys

The building has a double-pitch Westmoreland slate roof with red clay ridges. The front ridge runs parallel with the façade and is shorter than the rear ridge, which extends to the right. Both are hipped and are linked at the left end. The front roof is stopped at both ends by matching brick chimneys, each rising from the wall head at either end of the front block and linked to the main roof by a small slated gablet. The chimneys are tall and slender, built in red brick with a finely dressed overhanging stone coping course and four side-vent type pots. Abutting the front face of each chimney and gablet is a flat lead-roofed dormer, each containing a single casement to the front and a second on the front-facing cheek. There is also a flat lead-roofed dormer on the front pitch containing a pair of painted timber casements. Early records show there was once a third chimney to the rear right, now lost. The rear roof appears to have been extended at its right end, over an extended stairwell. Eaves are overhanging and bracketed with a closed soffit; gutters are ogee cast iron.

Massing and Layout

The front block is two storeys high. A similar rear block continues to the right. At the front right is a single-storey structure with a pavilion roof topped with a lead-vented finial, whose façade is tied into that of the main front block, though not as wide. The result is that the right end of the front elevation is single storey while the left end is two storeys. Abutting the extreme left end at ground floor is a porch forming the main entrance to the banking hall.

Main Entrance and Entrance Porch

There are indications that the entrance porch is an alteration and that the doorway was moved at some point from the single-storey block of the façade — an early illustration confirms the entrance was originally located at ground-floor right, with the door case subsequently dismantled and relocated to its current position at ground-floor left. Three granite steps lead to a large modern pair of eight-panelled painted timber doors, above which is a semicircular fanlight. The whole has a granite surround with a hollow chamfer mould, projecting moulded impost, tabled voussoirs, a stepped extrados, and a rusticated keystone. Above this is a frieze into which the word 'Bank' is carved, with modillons to either side supporting an overhanging coping.

Front Elevation — Two-Storey Section

To the right of the entrance porch is the two-storey section of the façade. The ground floor is faced in ashlar granite; the upper floor is in brick. At ground floor there is a raised ashlar pilaster at either end, with a high chamfered plinth at cill level between them. At meeting-rail level a moulded string course runs across the façade and continues over the pilasters at either end. There are five symmetrically arranged window openings, the central one more widely spaced from the others. All are one-over-one sliding sashes (top pane smaller) with flush stooled cills. To the left and right of the central window, at top-sash level, are small decorative granite corbel panels. A single ashlar course runs over all the windows between the pilasters, above which is a modern First Trust corporate sign occupying the depth of two ashlar courses, with a further ashlar course above. This is coped with a moulded string course upon which the first-floor brickwork is laid.

Front Elevation — Single-Storey Section

Continuing to the right is the single-storey portion of the façade, also faced in ashlar granite. Its left end shares a pilaster with the two-storey block and has a matching pilaster at its right end. It is detailed in the same manner as the two-storey section, with the addition of a block parapet. It has three widely spaced windows; the central one has been infilled to meeting-rail level by an ATM machine, including a plastic awning and projecting sign, and the stonework around this central opening has been disturbed — this is where the original entrance was removed. The left and right windows each have a moulded ashlar cartouche set over their heads.

First Floor of Main Block

The first-floor brickwork of the main block is laid in Flemish bond. On the façade wall are five one-over-one segmental-headed sliding sash windows, aligned with those below. Each has a moulded brick hood mould and a tall narrow granite keystone.

Right Cheek and Rear

The right cheek of the main two-storey block is abutted at ground floor by the single-storey block. At first floor there is a single window matching those on the façade but without a keystone, and to its right is a canted timber window recessed flush within a segmental-headed opening, with decorative leaded glazing and no hood mould over. Returning further to the right is the rear pile, running behind the single-storey pavilion-roofed block. This is in red brick, though the brickwork to its right third is noticeably smaller and modern, beneath an extended roof. A single segmental-headed one-over-one sliding sash window — as those on the façade but without a keystone — is set at the extreme left end.

Right Elevation

The right elevation consists of the right cheek of the single-storey block to the left and the two-storey rear block to the right, all in red brick. The left block is original; the right is modern. The left block has a granite pilaster at its left end (tied into the façade) and three plain one-over-one sliding sash windows, each with a dressed granite lintel. Above the windows is a modern applied First Trust sign, with a granite coping to the parapet over. The right block is two storeys and is abutted at ground-floor level on its left by a single-storey porch with a flat concrete roof; this porch has a pair of stained timber doors on its left, street-facing cheek. The remaining wall is blank except for a one-over-one sliding sash window (both panes equal) at first-floor level above the porch.

Rear Elevation

The rear elevation is in red brick and informal in composition. It is divided into three bays: the central bay is narrow with an attic gable, and to its right is a similar bay, both with timber bargeboards. Abutting these bays at ground-floor level is a lean-to return with a natural slate roof, red brick walls, and numerous sliding sash windows. Centred at first-floor level above is a pair of segmental-headed one-over-one sliding sashes. Each attic gable has a small one-over-one sliding sash window. The left bay is completely abutted by a flat-roofed return which ties into the eaves of the main roof. This return has a leaded roof with a tall modern brick chimney at its left end, red brick walls, and a windowless flat-roofed stairwell return abutting to the left, plus two segmental-headed windows at first-floor level, each containing three narrow fixed panes with small top-hung casements above.

Left Elevation

The left elevation of the main block is in red brick and is almost entirely abutted at ground floor by the entrance porch, also in red brick with a flat concrete roof, a blank façade, and a modern three-casement window to the left, rear-facing cheek. The remaining ground-floor wall contains a single one-over-one sliding sash with a moulded brick hood mould. There are four windows at first-floor level: to the left is a window matching that below, and to its right are two further similar windows, each diminishing in size and height with rising cill levels. To the right of these is a canted timber window recessed flush within a segmental-headed opening, identical in form to the corresponding window at the other end of the building but subsequently replaced in modern timber with plain glass.

Boundary Treatment

The front area of the bank, facing the street, is enclosed by a contemporary screen comprising a blue brick dwarf wall with a heavy chamfered granite coping, above which are red brick piers with domed caps, with simple vertical iron railings between them. The garden to the rear has been converted to a modern car park, enclosed by a rubble stone wall and railings.