Former Carlisle and Cumberland Bank and bank manager's house, Alston, Cumbria

Summary

Bank and bank manager’s house, 1898 to designs of Johnstone Brothers of Carlisle for the Carlisle and Cumberland Banking Company, Tudorbethan style.

Description

Bank and bank manager’s house, 1898 to designs of Johnstone Brothers of Carlisle for the Carlisle and Cumberland Banking Company, Tudorbethan style.

MATERIALS: Eden Valley coursed red sandstone with buff-sandstone dressings, Welsh slate roofs.

PLAN: linear range fronting street comprising a bank building with a bank manager's house attached to the south, two-storey rear range, and C20 rear extension.

EXTERIOR: the building is situated on the main street of Alston. It is of sandstone construction with three storeys and four bays beneath a pitched roof of slate, with a pair of end stacks, a ridge stack, and a corbelled eaves cornice; there are three rounded cast-iron hoppers.

The main (east) elevation is of coursed red sandstone with buff dressed sandstone dressings. Windows are of varying forms, mostly with ornate stone lintels and aprons with carved scrolled details. The left end gabled bay has a double-height canted bay window with chamfered detailing, and a second-floor two-light stone mullioned window with half-circle pediment and a gablet above with stone verges, kneelers and ball finials. The gablet also has a large, scrolled central finial at its pinnacle with an 1898 datestone. The second bay has paired ground-floor entrance and window. The entrance has a four-panelled door with arched top panel with dentils, an overlight, and original door furniture; the overlight and window have coloured leaded lights. There is a first-floor two-light stone mullioned window with coloured stained glass incorporating fruit, heads, scrolls and urns, and a single-light window to the second floor. The third bay has a triple-mullioned and transomed stone window with triangular pediment and upper leaded lights; the lower panes are modern replacements. First and second floor windows are similar to those of the second bay. The right end bay has an ornate, apsidal porch reached by a pair of stone steps and adorned with plain and fluted scrolled Corinthian pilasters, and egg and dart cornicing to a parapet supporting a flat roof and stone balustrade. The curvilinear, centrally placed six-panel double door with original fittings has a dentilled cornice and a coloured stained-glass overlight incorporating the words ‘Carlisle and Cumberland Bank’. To either side there are similarly decorated side lights with coloured-glass incorporating fruit, flowers, scrolls and leaves. There is a two-light stone mullioned window with rusticated jambs and scroll work to the first floor and a two-light mullioned window to the second floor. The latter is set within a half-dormer window with coped verges, kneelers and a scrolled parapet head with a miniature pediment and the initials ‘CCB’ for Carlisle and Cumberland Bank. To the right of the vestibule is a tall passage entrance with stone door case and panelled door; above is a reproduction of the 1729 datestone from an earlier building on the site, with the initials I D F, and below this is a stone plaque reading ‘REBUILT A 1898 D’.

The partially visible right return has a substantial external chimneystack. The rear elevation is roughcast and has scattered fenestration (window frames are mostly uPVC replacements) with plain stone surrounds and a canted north-west corner with a first-floor window incorporating a corbelled out moulded head. There is a two-storey rear range with a flat roof and windows with similar stone surrounds, and a mid-C20 single-storey flat-roofed extension with metal fire escape above.

INTERIOR: the bank's main entrance opens into an apsidal vestibule with an ornate moulded stone ceiling with dentils and a central timber ceiling panel; there are stone dentils to window and door heads. An original panelled and glazed door leads into the former banking hall (recently restored). This has dentillated timber panelling to dado level. There is a complete geometric plaster ceiling and a dentil cornice. A rectangular area of black and white geometric ceramic tiles with a Greek Key border, is partially fitted with modern kitchen units. There is a chimney breast but no fireplace to the opposing wall, which has a decorative ventilation grill. To the rear of the banking hall is a former bank manager's office entered through an original five-panel door, the upper panel with a curved head and dentiled cornice matching the rest of the scheme. This room has a simple stone fireplace with a tooled stone lintel. There are two further small rooms, one a former strong room, and the other fitted out as a shower room.

The main entrance to the former bank manager's house opens into a vestibule with a coloured geometric encaustic tiled floor and a timber panelled ceiling with dentil cornice. An inner, panelled timber screen with ornate glazed and leaded upper panels and a panelled door, opens into the stairhall, which has an encaustic geometric tiled floor, plaster ceiling and cornice. It contains a substantial mahogany, closed string staircase with turned balusters, ornate newel posts, ornate drops, and handrail, with a timber panelled understairs; the staircase rises to the first and second floors via rectangular landings. A door at the foot of the stairs opens to a rear office. The interior of the second floor was inspected, but we understand that the first-floor rooms retain original chimney pieces and plasterwork. This second floor is partially lit by an atrium, and there are four-panel doors within original moulded architraves throughout. The main east-facing room has a late-C19 chimney piece fitted with a register grate, and two further rooms have late-C19 single-piece cast iron surrounds, indicating bedroom use.

SUBSIDIARY ITEMS: set to the front is a low boundary wall (railings removed) in red sandstone with buff saddleback coping stones.

History

The Carlisle and Cumberland Banking Company (CCBC) was established in Carlisle in 1836 as the first joint stock bank in the city. In the mid-late C19 the bank expanded and several new branches in Cumberland were opened, including one in Alston in 1869.

The present building was erected as a purpose-built bank and bank manager's house in 1898 to designs of local architects Johnstone Brothers of Carlisle. Its construction demonstrates the investment and prosperity brought to the town by the lead mining industry, and the London Lead Company in particular, not withstanding the fact that the by the late C19 the Alston Moor lead mines were in decline.

In 1911 the CCBC was taken over by The Bank of Liverpool and subsequently became Martin’s Bank, and then Barclays Bank. The building served as a bank and manager's house until 2015 when it was divided into two separate properties, and the bank manager’s house was further subdivided into three apartments, which extend across the first and second floors above the banking hall.

Reasons for Listing

The former Carlisle and Cumberland Bank and bank manager's house, of 1898, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* a good example of a late-Victorian purpose-built bank and bank manager's house, designed in a Tudorbethan style and imparting a distinctive architectural character;

* the ostentatious front elevation is carefully composed with a projecting entrance embellished with Corinthian columns and stained glass, to create an eye-catching street presence;

* it is constructed of good-quality red sandstone with carefully crafted detailing and relief-carved embellishments, including pediments, gables and window dressings;

* it has good interior survival including banking hall, manager’s office and strong room, and there is a good range of original fittings to the bank manager's house.

Historic Interest:

* it was designed to impress the small market town of Alston and is a late expression of the investment and aspiration brought to the town through industry.

External Links

Historic England Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.