Description

William Syme, 1913. 2-storey, L-plan classical bank building on corner site. Stone cleaned ashlar, S and W channelled at ground and with 1st floor pilaster quoins, coursed squared and snecked rubble elsewhere; architraved surrounds. Base course, cavetto-corniced dividing course and mutuled eaves cornice. Ground floor openings keystoned, windows round-headed; 1st floor windows corniced: voussoirs, stone mullions.

SW (ENTRANCE) CORNER: composite-capitalled columns flank deeply moulded round-headed doorway with decorative cast-iron gates and glazed semicircular fanlight with cast-iron grille, lettered 'BANK'; cornice and block pediment give way to dividing course below smaller columns (detailed as at ground) forming aedicule to 1st floor window. Heavy block pediment over cornice with flanking dies and horizontal scrollwork detail extending around corners to W and S elevations.

S (LOUGHBOROUGH ROAD) ELEVATION: 4-bay. Pedimented doorcase to right of centre with foliate-capitalled pilasters and flanking narrow lights, steps up to panelled timber door with plate glass fanlight; bipartite window in bay to right and 2 windows with moulded aprons to left. 1st floor with bipartite window, flanking channelled pilasters and mutuled pediment above eaves in bay to right of centre, window to outer right and 2 windows to left; channelled pilasters to outer angles.

W (ST CLAIR STREET) ELEVATION: 3-bay. Windows to each bay with moulded aprons, that to right with apron and base of window altered, that to left with decorative moulding to head forming part of corbel to canted 1st floor window with flanking channelled pilasters and mutuled pediment above eaves; windows to centre and right bays and further channelled pilaster to outer right.

N ELEVATION: 1st floor with decorative-astragalled, round-headed stair window to centre and 2 small windows to left, broad advanced gable with dominant gablehead stack to right, and 2 small windows on return to left. 1st floor not visible beyond boundary fence.

E ELEVATION: pitch-roofed, single storey wing with small window and bipartite window on return to left projecting at ground; irregular fenestration at 1st floor with small keystoned, round-headed opening with oculus to centre below gablehead stack.

4-pane and plate glass glazing to timber sash and case windows except to former banking hall with modern windows. Grey slates. Cavetto-coped ashlar stacks with cans and ashlar-coped skews and flat skewputts. Cast-iron downpipes with decorative rainwater hoppers.

INTERIOR: former banking hall modern but retains decorative mutuled cornices. Nos 1-3 Loughborough Road interior not seen 1997.

BOUNDARY WALLS: semicircular-coped rubble boundary walls.

Statement of Interest

Former National Bank of Scotland. William Syme was working from 62 High Street in 1913 and later went into partnership with J D Swanston. Premises now (1997) in use as insurance offices with flatted accommodation above.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17808136

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]