Clydesdale Bank, 94-6 High Street, Dundee

The Clydesdale Bank, located at 94-6 High Street, Dundee, was designed by William Spence and built in 1876. This substantial bank occupies a triangular plot at the eastern end of High Street, built on a sloping site. The building is constructed of cream-coloured ashlar sandstone, with a concealed roof.

The architecture draws inspiration from the Renaissance style. The High Street elevations feature a prominent base course, giant Corinthian pilasters, and an entablature. The Commercial Street elevation has a continuous cill band and a corniced, coped parapet, balustraded at the front, adorned with a statue of Britannia and a lion. Original two-pane timber sash windows remain, with colonetted segmental pediments on the ground floor of the High Street front and the first floor of the Commercial Street elevation. Architraves and consoled cornices are prominent at the upper floor of the High Street front.

The front elevation, which is the truncated apex of the triangular plan, is three bays wide. The central bay is advanced and features an open segmental pediment with a first-floor window. Flanking this bay are segmental returns with single windows on both the ground and first floors. An advanced, pilastered entrance porch has a moulded doorcase, an entablature, and a balustraded parapet, with round-headed, pilastered windows on its returns featuring mask keystones. Narrow recessed bays on either side have shell niches containing draped female figures.

The south-facing High Street elevation has five bays with decorative cast-iron grilles in the basement windowheads. A door is located on the ground floor left, with four windows to the right. There are five windows on the first floor. The north-facing High Street elevation is similar, with four bays, basement windowheads, and four windows to both the ground and first floors.

The Commercial Street elevation rises to three stories and has seven bays, with rounded angles. It features modern shopfronts at ground level, and seven windows to both the first and second floors. There are three windows on each of the first and second floors at the angled corners, with a cartouche in the parapet.

The interior boasts a two-story banking hall with a later gallery mezzanine. It incorporates Corinthian columns, corniced doorpieces with panelled doors, richly moulded decorative cornices, a coved ceiling with a large glass dome, and decorative stained glass windows depicting allegorical classical figures. The window reveals are panelled and have corniced parapets.