Former Midland Bank, Kingston upon Hull, City of Kingston upon Hull

Summary

Former bank, 1878-1879, designed by Lockwood and Mawson of Bradford for the Yorkshire Banking Company. A small extension of 1921 to the design of London architect T B Whinney. Later subsidiary extensions of the mid-C20, 1967 and 1968.

Description

Former bank, 1878-1879, designed by Lockwood and Mawson of Bradford for the Yorkshire Banking Company. Small extension 1921 to design by London architect T B Whinney. Later subsidiary extensions of mid-C20, 1967 and 1968.

MATERIALS: Portland stone and sandstone ashlar, with slate roof.

PLAN: a corner building with an angled corner containing the public entrance. The original building is of three storeys with a basement and an attic storey; the east extensions are of two storeys.

EXTERIOR: the building is designed as a stone-fronted palazzo. It has a banded rusticated basement plinth, a ground floor with bands of reticulated rustication, ashlar upper floors and a deep, modillion cornice. The outer gables each have a moulded ashlar stack and there are two similar stacks in front of the ridge of the Parliament Street elevation.

The angled entrance bay is flanked by giant fluted Corinthian pilasters set on the banded ground floor with an enriched, shouldered gablet topped by a segmental-arched pediment and finial and flanked by urns. The doorway has an ashlar doorcase with enriched pilasters on high bases with metal lion head bosses and a triangular pedimented hood with a cartouche dated 1879 on giant, curved brackets. Above is a tripartite first-floor window with a central bracketed triangular pediment. On the second floor was a similar tripartite window with a central segmental pediment. The attic window is a two-light casement with a lugged ashlar frame flanked by swags in the frieze.

The west (Parliament) elevation is of six bays. The first bay is slightly recessed on the ground floor and the upper floors are separated from the other bays by a giant fluted Corinthian pilaster with an urn above the cornice. On the ground floor is a doorway with two steps, a six-panelled door and a rectangular overlight. Above the overlight is a similarly sized four-light window with a giant sculpted head keystone and reticulated rusticated voussoirs. The other ground-floor bays have tall square-headed windows also with reticulated rusticated voussoirs and giant sculpted head keystones. The windows frames are large single panes with transoms and smaller upper panes. The first floor has six square-headed windows with two-pane horned sashes and moulded ashlar surrounds with triangular pedimented hoods on brackets. The second floor has six square-headed windows with moulded ashlar surrounds and segmental pediments. The attic storey has six two-light casements with lugged ashlar frames. The basement plinth has six square-headed openings with metal grilles with lion heads.

The south (Whitefriargate) elevation is five bays; the fifth bay is lower, being two storeys with a basement. There is a giant fluted Corinthian pilaster to the right of the fourth bay with an urn above the cornice. The first to fourth bays have similarly detailed windows as those to the Parliament Street elevation. The fifth bay has similar banded rustication to the basement plinth and reticulated rusticated banding on the ground floor. The first floor has banded rustication on the first floor with a balustraded parapet above. The ground floor has a wider square-headed window also with reticulated rusticated voussoirs and a giant sculpted head keystone. The first floor has a wider square-headed window with a giant keystone. Both windows have three-light casements with transoms and smaller upper panes. The basement plinth to the Whitefriargate elevation has three square-headed openings with similar lion head grilles.

INTERIOR: the corner entrance opens into the banking hall, which has a raised ground floor. The banking hall has a moulded cross beam ceiling enriched with modillion cornices and decorative plasterwork supported by fluted Corinthian columns on high bases. There is an octagonal raised lantern in the north-east corner. Part of the south and west walls have timber panelling beneath the window sills. The lower entrance area has modern metal and glass balustrades* and alterations have been made particularly on the north side of the banking hall to insert cashiers desks* and positions for cash machines*. The narrow rooms beyond have had lower ceilings inserted to allow mezzanine rooms above; these rooms retain the modillion cornices and enriched plasterwork. A lift* has also been inserted.

The manager’s office in the south-east corner (1921 extension) is separated from the main banking hall by a timber panelled and part-glazed screen with a half-glazed door at the left-hand side. The room has half-height timber panelling with horizontal fielded panels over vertical panels and a dentil cornice. The east wall panelling incorporates a central fireplace and the north wall has a four-panelled door with timber moulded architrave.

In the north-east corner, to the rear of the staff entrance, is an open well staircase with a swept, moulded timber handrail, decorative cast-iron balusters and newel post, a curtail step and decorative tread ends.

The first-floor and second-floor rooms have moulded cornices and timber mantelpieces of various designs; the painted mantelpiece in the first-floor, south-east corner room (1921 extension) has a dentil cornice. The attic-storey rooms do not have cornices and the mantelpieces have been removed. The majority of doors on the upper floors are modern replacements* with circular porthole glazing, though retaining the moulded timber architraves.

The basement is reached by a flight of stone steps. It contains two strong rooms with an encircling corridor.

The north-east extension (mid-C20 and 1967) also contains two strong rooms with an encircling corridor on the ground floor. There are no features of interest in the room above. The staircase on the east side of the building has square steel balusters with steel sheeting forming a mid-rail and a plastic-coated handrail*.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 ('the Act') it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.

History

The bank standing on the corner of Whitefriargate and Parliament Street was designed for the Yorkshire Banking Company by the Bradford architects’ practice of Lockwood and Mawson. The plans were approved shortly before Henry Francis Lockwood died on 19 July 1878 and the building was completed in 1879. The practice had previously designed a bank in Bradford for the Yorkshire Banking Company (built in 1872-1874, demolished), and the Hull bank was a similarly lavish corner palazzo building. The plans, dated July 1878, show the building with six bays on Parliament Street and four bays on Whitefriargate with a corner entrance with a flight of six curved steps up to the double doors. The ground floor had a large banking hall with a manager’s room in the north-west corner next to the staff entrance on Parliament Street. The staircase to the manager’s accommodation on the upper floors was in the north-east corner. The basement contained two strong rooms. The 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1888-1890, published 1893, shows the footprint of the bank. It abuts the terrace of residential houses on Parliament Street and a separate, small, single-bay building on Whitefriargate. To the rear of these buildings was a large building identified as a printers’ building on a 1921 plan.

By 1913 the bank was owned by the London City & Midland Bank, known as the London Joint City & Midland Bank from 1918, and subsequently as the Midland Bank from 1923. In 1921 plans were drawn up by the London architect T B Whinney to extend the bank by replacing the small separate building on Whitefriargate. The extension was one bay and two storeys on Whitefriargate with a large, single-storey room to the rear. The front elevation was designed to blend in with the original bank building. The ground-floor front room contained a new manager’s office. The extended building is shown on the 1:2500 OS map revised in 1926, published in 1928, at which time the large printers’ building remained to the rear.

By 1948 a rear extension containing two strong rooms and a machine room had been added, taking the place of the west end of the printers’ building. Plans by Whinney Son & Austen Hall dated March 1957 show that the extension was single-storeyed and flat-roofed. It was proposed at this time to add first-floor, flat-roofed, male and female staff rooms and a store room with a roof lantern at the south end of the extension roof. In 1967 further alterations were undertaken by the Hull architects’ practice Elsworth Sykes and Partners. In the main building it was proposed to insert a new staircase on the east side of the banking hall, while a full extra floor was added on top of the rear strong room extension. In 1968 Elsworth Sykes and Partners extended the plans for additional space by adding a mezzanine floor to the 1921 single-storey room to the rear of the two-storey bay on Whitefriargate. It incorporated a staircase in the position of the new staircase proposed in 1967.

In 1992 HSBC acquired Midland Bank and in 1999 the business was rebranded as HSBC. It is probable that the remodelling of the entrance foyer, which is now lower than the ground floor of the banking hall with steps and a lift up to that floor, and the refurbishing of some other areas dates to the late C20. The branch closed in 2017.

Lockwood and Mawson was amongst the most successful provincial architectural practices of the mid- to late C19. Henry Francis Lockwood (1811-1878) first established his own architect’s practice in Hull in 1834, designing a number of commissions in the city, including the Greek Revival chapel for Trinity House (1839-1843, Grade II, National Heritage List for England: 1297026). In 1849 Lockwood formed a partnership with the younger architect William Mawson (1828-1889). They subsequently moved their office to Bradford and they went on to design many significant buildings, often after winning architectural competitions, including one for Bradford Town Hall (Grade I, NHLE: 1133675). They also designed Saltaire mill and village for Sir Titus Salt in the 1850s to 1870s (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Reasons for Listing

The former Midland Bank, 1878 to 1879 by Lockwood and Mawson, with a small extension of 1921 by T B Whinney, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a lavish corner palazzo building using high-quality ashlar stone and craftsmanship in the carved detailing to present an impressive outward appearance which embodies confidence, reliability and security;

* the interior has a grand banking hall with enriched moulded cross beam ceiling, fluted Corinthian columns and octagonal raised lantern, with a 1921 panelled manager’s office off the south-east corner, and other good-quality original fixtures and fittings, including the main staircase, cornices, and mantelpieces to the fireplaces on the upper floors.

Historic interest:
* the bank was designed by the noted architectural practice of Lockwood and Mawson for the Yorkshire Banking Company.

Group value:
* the bank stands in a prominent corner location and benefits from group value due to its proximity with other listed buildings on both Parliament Street and on Whitefriargate, notably the Grade II* 10-15 Whitefriargate, which the bank faces.

External Links

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