National Commercial Bank Of Scotland, 25 Bernard Street and 24, 25 Maritime Street, Edinburgh

The National Commercial Bank of Scotland, situated at 25 Bernard Street and 24-25 Maritime Street, Edinburgh, is a substantial bank building likely designed by John Paterson and constructed between 1804 and 1806. It is a two-storey, five-bay structure with a lower two-storey rear wing, encompassing group value. The front and sides are built of cream sandstone with stugged ashlar and polished dressings, while the rear features coursed and squared rubble, and coursed rubble to the rear and sides of the rear wings.

The architectural style is characterized by a bowed three-bay section with a domed roof on the Bernard Street elevation. The central bay’s architraved doorway is adorned with consoles, a pediment, a panelled door, and a radial iron fanlight. First-floor windows are paired with single windows to the flanking bays. The Maritime Street elevation features a three-bay main block to the right, with an advanced, pedimented central bay. A single-storey gig house is located to the far left, featuring a broad round-arched carriage doorway and a smaller secondary door surmounted by a window, with a blank ashlar panel above. The Bank Street elevation mirrors the Bernard Street front with similar detailing, and a lower, two-storey rear wing extends to the right.

The rear elevation presents two single-storey projecting wings that create a narrow courtyard, accompanied by a square projection with a wallhead stack on the right and a partly obscured bowed centre section; single windows are present throughout. The building features timber sash and case windows with 12-pane and 6-pane glazing. The roof is piended and covered with slate, crowned by a central cupola, with metal flashings and a copper dome (formerly lead). Two central stacks and one wallhead stack are present.

Inside, a circular vestibule features round-arched niches. The oval telling hall showcases a black and white marble floor, a domed ceiling with an oval cupola, a Vitruvian scroll cornice to the dome, and an ornate Adamesque frieze incorporating urns, griffons, and a still-leaf acanthus cornice with a Vitruvian scroll border. Seven architraved doorways with oval panelling lead off from the hall. The original boundary wall is now capped with plain, modern railings incorporating anthemion motifs.