National Westminster Bank

The National Westminster Bank is a mid-19th century office block built in an Italianate style, featuring three balanced facades. The exterior is rendered and painted, with a Bath limestone surround to the main bank entrance, and is topped with an artificial slate roof. The front facade, which faces down George Street, was altered around 1905 when a Classical stone entrance was added to the existing building. This entrance takes the form of a Serliana, incorporating grooved ashlar and a Venetian-style feature. It is composed of three bays with Ionic pilasters on the exterior and half columns on the interior, framing small, single-pane windows with keyed heads. A central eight-panelled door, with a small rectangular light above and a voussoir head, provides access. A full entablature is broken in the centre, arching upwards with a keyed head, and contains an elaborately wreathed oval within the tympanum. Above this are two two-over-two sash windows in architrave frames on the second floor; the first floor is blind. The facade is framed by grooved quoin pilasters that die into corbelled stops at ground floor level, transitioning into hollow niches with a frame. A band carries a plastic bank sign. The building has a frieze band, a modillion eaves cornice, and a hipped roof.

The George Street (left) facade has three storeys of triple windows, all with keyed heads and architrave frames. The ground floor windows have semi-circular heads, the first floor are segmental, and the second floor are flat topped. Architectural details include a plinth, a string course at each floor level, a listel, and a modillion eaves cornice. The central bay features a Tuscan-framed doorway that is now blocked, with a small arched window in its place. Above, there is a panel within an architrave frame containing a decorative device, surmounted by a single flat-topped window.

The Osborne Street (right) facade mirrors the George Street facade but includes a deep three-storey porch in place of the centre bay. The porch has rounded corners and is flanked on the right by spear-head iron railings, fronting a small basement area. A two-storey rusticated feature frames a panelled door and an arched window above. The second floor has an altered casement window framed by rusticated pilasters. Plat bands are present at each floor and sill level, along with a cornice and a parapet. A tall brick and stone stack is visible on the roof.

The interior of the ground floor was completely altered in recent years.