Former Northern Bank

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three storey, three bay palazzo bank building. Mid-19th century stucco and brick blocks resting on a plinth, with rustication to ground floor and a large central archway surmounted by a Corinthian aedicule and small bracketed balustraded balcony above imposing into the second floor. Solid wall parapet to hipped roof with projecting dentilled cornice and string courses with quoins to three corners. Built 1852-53.

Front elevation faces North onto Shipquay Street with a recessed central doorway four steps up with a stone sculptured 'Belfast Banking Company' crest above and six-panel timber door. Two semicircular arch headed windows with carved headed keystones and a shoulder-course to ground floor with deep dentilled cornice above. Square-headed windows with moulded architrave surround and segmented pediment above on first floor and a semicircular arch headed window with carved headed keystone within central bay and sill course. Segmental headed windows with moulded surrounds and flying keystones to second floor with dentilled sill course.

Two bay East elevation faces onto Bank Place, fenestration and window style follow that of the North elevation.

South elevation abuts No. 2 Bank Place (HB01.19.036B) at the rear to ground and first floor levels with smooth rendered finish to third floor level.

West elevation abuts No's. 35-37 Shipquay Street (HB01.19.035).

Setting:
Located within the historic city walls to the lower (North) end of Shipquay Street projecting above Shipquay Gate through the City Wall to the north.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
Rainwater goods: Cast-iron
Walling; Painted stone
Windows: Timber sliding sash
Door: Timber six-panel.

Historical information

The Northern Bank at No. 39 Shipquay Street, a three-storey three-bay palazzo-style building, was constructed in 1852-53 to a design by renowned Victorian architect Sir. Charles Lanyon. The building was originally constructed for the Belfast Banking Company who had occupied a previous building on the site from the 1820s. Hume states that prior to the 1820s ‘the lack of banking facilities in the city led to moves by local businessmen to establish a local banking arrangement,’ however with the establishment of the Bank of Ireland, Provincial Bank and the Belfast Banking Co. in the city in 1825 ‘growing satisfaction with the service they provided diminished the desire to establish an independent bank in the north-west’ (Hume, p. 138).

The previous building on the corner of Shipquay Street and Bank Place, which was used as a forwarding branch by the Belfast Banking Co., continued to stand until its demolition in 1852 and was depicted as a simple three-storey building (that stood forward from the neighbouring buildings) on McFarland’s c. 1830 illustration of Shipquay Street; the Ulster Town Directory for Londonderry recorded that the manager of the branch bank was a Mr William Hazlett in 1852. The Builder records that the current bank building was constructed between 1852 and 1853 and was designed by Charles Lanyon. A Belfast-based architect and engineer, Lanyon (1813-1889) had established his reputation and set up ‘an extensive private architectural practice’ by the mid-19th century; his design for the Italianate palazzo-style bank on Shipquay Street was one of the only contracts that Lanyon carried out in Londonderry (the majority of his work being based in counties Antrim and Down) and one of the last independent contracts he undertook before bringing William H. Lynn into partnership in 1854-55. Rowan states that the Belfast Bank is one of Lanyon’s ‘most confident Renaissance designs, high and massy like a Genoese palazzo, only three windows wide and three storeys high but big in scale, with a rusticated central archway surmounted by a Corinthian aedicule so large that it erupts into the attic window of the floor above.’ The builders contracted to realise Lanyon’s design were Scott of Omagh and Whelman of Armagh (Builder, p. 60; DIA; Rowan, p. 395).

The new premises for the Belfast Banking Co. Were originally valued at £200 in Griffith’s Valuation (1856); the value remained at this level until 1924 when it was increased to £300 (the valuer made no note to explain this increase). Under the First Revaluation (1935) the value of the Belfast Bank was further increased to £385, the valuer noting that the bank offices also included a dwelling for either the manager or the caretaker. The total value of the building was further increased to £700 by the Second Revaluation (1956-72) which noted that the upper floors of the building were utilised as office space by the Ministries of Agriculture and Finance.

The Belfast Banking Company was amalgamated with the Northern Banking Co. Ltd. In 1970 to form the Northern Bank Ltd. In that year the First Survey noted that the Northern Bank briefly retained possession of the site and No. 39 Shipquay Street was subsequently listed in 1976. Soon after the merger the building was closed when the two offices merged at the Northern Bank building at No. 6 Shipquay Place. Calley (writing in 2013) notes that the former Northern Bank ‘does not appear to be in excellent condition, and for such a fine stone building it is bizarrely painted’ (Calley, pp 381-382). The former bank building is currently utilised as an exhibition centre and, prior to 2010, was used as the offices of the Bloody Sunday Trust.

References

Primary Sources
1. Ferguson’s painting of Shipquay Street (c. 1830)
2. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
3. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
4. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/11 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A-1B – Annual Revisions (1897-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/11 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
9. PRONI VAL/4/B5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
10. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Londonderry (1837)
11. Builder (22 Jan 1853)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1943)
13. First Survey Record – HB01/19/036 (1970)
14. First Survey Image – HB01/19/036 (No Date)
15. NIEA Pink Files – HB01/19/036

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. Ferguson, W. S; Rowan, A. J; Tracey, J. J., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the city of Derry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970.
3. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

A large scale corner three storey three bay former bank, No. 39 Shipquay Street is a robust and confident palazzo-style building of Renaissance design within the Historic Walled City, built in 1852-3 to the designs of the renowned architect, Charles Lanyon. Notable as one of his only designs in Londonderry, it was also Lanyon's last contract prior to his partnership with W. H Lynn. Despite its deteriorating condition at the time of survey, the exterior detailing is largely intact. It is well proportioned with carefully composed facades. Historically the building was important for its civic function, today it is an important landmark within the walled city.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age, S-Authenticity & T-Historic Importance