Description

SOUTHWARK

TQ3276 CAMBERWELL GREEN
636-1/11/128 (West side)
No.17
Former London County Bank

GV II

Bank. Dated 1899 over entrance. For London County Bank. Roofs
of slate and cupola covered partly in metal.
STYLE: Baroque Revival.
PLAN: main block on corner is rectangular in plan, with a
full-height canted bay to south; the return treated as a lower
wing, giving the whole a roughly L-shaped plan.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys stepping down to 2 along return on
Camberwell New Road. 3-window range to Camberwell Green;
2-window range to south-facing elevation of 3 storeys;
scattered fenestration to long return.
All openings are flat-arched. Vermiculated and rusticated
plinth continuous, filling area below ground-floor window
sills; walls above are banded in stone and granite blocks;
there is stone and brick banding to upper floors.
Main entrance in bay set in a most elaborate aedicule
consisting of a pair of coupled Ionic columns (the shafts of
granite), supporting entablature blocks and segmental
pediment, the tympanum of which is recessed and ornamented
with low relief carving depicting a wreathed shield and
seraphim, and bearing the date and initials "LCB" in florid
script; reclining on the pediment are a pair of nearly
free-standing allegorical figures, the whole arrangement
borrowed from Michelangelo's Medici tombs; the figure on the
left appears to be Mercury; that on the right may represent
thrift. Between these muscular and very movemented figures is
a plaque bearing the word "Bank".
The 1st-floor window above is incorporated into this grand
entrance aedicule and has a shouldered and eared architrave
topped by a pediment formed from a raking cornice only; this
latter feature repeated on all 1st-floor windows of the main
3-storey block. The 2nd-floor bay window has a shouldered and
eared architrave.
2nd-floor return to Camberwell Green treated as a recessed
loggia of 3 bays, each marked by a pair of Tuscan columns with
single end responds. All ground-floor windows on this
elevation have shouldered and eared architraves topped by
cartouches, which at the time of writing are covered with a
late C20 sign fascia. There is an entablature with bracketed
cornice, the whole topped by a balustrade, continuous over the

main block; obelisk caps at corners and rear.
Steeple of 2 stages above canted bay, corner pilasters to 1st
stage; 2nd stage sets back and has urns and coupled Tuscan
columns at corners.
The lower wing is, by comparison, informal and rambling,
though united with the first by the use of similar materials.
Its notable features include: shallow canted bay with triple,
mullioned windows of stone to 1st and attic floors; bay rises
from elaborate carved cartouche; 2nd flat-arched entrance with
original panelled door and Art Nouveau-inspired hardware.
Stacks to party and end walls.
INTERIOR: through double doors of original design to domed
foyer; interior door surround is a wood aedicule no less
exuberant than that outside.

Listing NGR: TQ3250876759

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26658806

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

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  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
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  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)