Description

KING'S LYNN

TF6119NE KING'S STAITHE SQUARE
610-1/9/112 (South side)
01/12/51 Bank House

GV II*

House, then hotel, now offices. Early C18. Shown on Rastrick's
1725 plan but Bell shows clear site c1680. North facade
re-worked early C19 with 2 full-height canted window bays.
Red brick with plain tiled roofs.
North front of 2 storeys and dormer attic Central panelled
door within stuccoed Gibbsian rusticated surround. One sash
above with glazing bars and gauged skewback arch. Canted
window bays to either side are pierced by 3 similar sashes to
each floor and terminate in a timber modillion eaves cornice.
Gabled roof carrying 2 hipped dormers with sashes between
which is a tall stuccoed niche on scrolled consoles. Niche is
framed by pilaster strips and a round arch and surmounted by a
broken swan-necked pediment. In niche is a statue of Charles
I, resited 1685 from former Custom House (qv) of 1630.
Internal gable end stack to east and a compound stack to west
gable is shared by the 3-storey wing returning north. This
wing is illuminated through sashes with glazing bars and
gauged skewback arches and is an early C19 front. Parapet
conceals 2 hipped roofs.
West elevation has large patches of English bond brickwork, is
in 3 storeys and presents 4 hipped roofs to view. Windows are
predominately sashes with glazing bars and exposed boxes. One
stack left of centre and another immediately behind.
INTERIOR. Very extensive brick cellars are barrel-vaulted.
They are entered from north-east room under a heavy bressumer.
This room with large but plain bridging beams. Ground floor
east room with large-frame C18 panelling and a shouldered and
eared picture frame in the overmantel. Reeded strips separate
sashes in the window bay. Ceiling in large geometric panels.
The room immediately above has similar panelling. Early C19
staircase: open string, stick balusters, ramped and wreathed
handrail.
Captain Samuel Gurney Cresswell, the Arctic Explorer, was born
here (1827-1867). The house was built on the former site of
the C16 Port Tollbooth.

Listing NGR: TF6160419948

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17555308

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings