Clydesdale Bank, 31 Braehead, Beith

Clydesdale Bank, 31 Braehead, Beith

This is a prominent two-storey bank and bankhouse built in 1906 in the Free Baronial style, with single-storey service ranges to the rear. The building forms an L-plan and is constructed from stugged, squared and snecked red sandstone with polished ashlar dressings. It is the only red sandstone building in Beith and displays architectural characteristics more typical of Glasgow than the town itself.

The principal (west) elevation faces Braehead and comprises four bays with the bankhouse to the left and the bank to the right. The most striking feature is a bold octagonal three-storey engaged angle turret at the corner of Braehead and Townhead Street, crowned with a conical slated roof and ball finial. The main elevation is distinguished by projecting bracketed eaves broken by wallhead gables, with irregular fenestration including roll-moulded and round-arch headed openings. Hoodmoulds are linked as a stringcourse between the ground and first floors.

The bankhouse section features a bowed oriel to both ground and first floors on its outer L-facing side. A blocked entrance now containing an auto-teller sits to the left within a round-arched surround with bracketed hood, with a single window above. The bank entrance is recessed at the base of the turret, approached by four steps, with a timber-panelled two-leaf outer door carved with the word 'BANK' above. The doorpiece comprises a Doric columned surround with acanthus consoles featuring thistle detail, supporting an entablature with carved fretwork above. Small oval windows to ground level left and right are fitted with wrought-iron grilles. First-floor windows are corniced with elaborate strapwork above. Three small windows to the attic are divided by attenuated brackets.

The rear (east) elevation comprises a single-storey piended roof range in the re-entrant angle, with a further single-storey and attic range at right angles to the right. This section features a dormer and three bays to the south elevation, with catslide wallhead dormers and a tripartite stair window. The south gable is two bays with a single-storey wing and blocked bipartite window to the right. The north gable is two bays.

The roof is covered with greyish-green slates laid in diminishing courses, with tall corniced ashlar gable, wallhead and ridge stacks. All windows are timber plate glass sashes. Rainwater goods are cast-iron with shaped hoppers.

Interior

The bank interior is largely modern, but retains original timber-panelled dado and window embrasures. The vestibule features part-glazed inner doors and cornice. The strong room bears a maker's plaque for 'William Paterson & Son, Smiths, Gasfitters, Bellhangers, Glasgow'. Ground-floor and attic chimneypieces are of unpainted timber; the ground-floor example has a tiled slip, while the attic version features an orange tiled slip and cast-iron hood.

The bankhouse retains more original detail. The staircase has a turned timber balustrade with a tripartite stained glass stair window featuring foliate motifs. A guilloche band runs above the cornice to the first-floor principal room, and an arch opens into the oriel bay within the turret. A timber stair rises to the attic. Doors throughout are timber-panelled (unpainted), with timber boarded surrounds to small windows. A timber and part-glazed door provides access to the turret room.

Boundary and Setting

The property is enclosed by coped squared and snecked red sandstone walls of various heights to the front and sides, with square gatepiers to the bankhouse having centrally raised caps. The rear boundary is marked by a coped random rubble grey stone wall.

An earlier bank building occupied this site, marked on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1897. The architect remains unknown, though it is possible that a Glasgow architect or a firm from Ayr was responsible. The Ayrshire practice Baird and Thomson may have undertaken the commission, as they were employed by the Clydesdale Bank to design premises in Glasgow. The building was first marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1910.