Northern Bank

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey with attic three-bay red-brick detached former bank with round tower, built 1898 in the free style to designs by Vincent Craig and located to the east side of Main Street in Portrush town centre. L-shaped plan with two-storey return and polygonal single-storey extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, raised gables with sandstone verges to north, gable red-brick chimneystacks with moulded caps to gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on deep overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends; cast-iron downpipes and hoppers. Walling is Flemish-bonded red brick with sandstone dressings; sandstone platband and string course above ground floor windows and to sill and lintel level of windows to tower. Windows are a variety of timber casements; some original with Art Nouveau style leaded lights to upper sections, all with chamfered sandstone sills; mullioned and transomed oriel window to first floor at principal elevation.

West-facing comprising three-stage tower to northwest corner and gabled right bay rising to attic resting on scrolled kneelers. Tower is slightly corbelled over a sandstone base to first floor; overhanging bracketed conical copper roof is surmounted by weathervane; deep festooned frieze with oculi, lit by windows to upper stages only, all having decorative leaded glass panels to upper sections. Ground floor is four openings wide; the second opening from left is a Tudorbethan style entrance door; remaining openings are timber tripartite windows. Modern timber double-leaf door in three-centred arched opening having three small similarly profiled lights over; it is set within a moulded sandstone surround surmounted by a deep drip canopy simply enriched with scrolled detail and flanked by drop moulding supporting stone lions clasping shield bearing “BB” (Belfast Bank). First floor has a narrow casement over entrance; to left is a wide three-centred arched window opening; to right is a transomed and mullioned oriel window with leaded lights to upper sections. Above, attic is lit by a diminutive casement.

The north elevation is dominated by a tall gabled bay at right; tripartite window to attic, two three-paned windows at first floor and three three-paned windows at ground floor. Left bay has a lower gablet breaking eaves mid-way, containing window to attic; scrolled bracket at left corner and finial to apex. Tripartite windows to first and ground floor right; entrance door to left, accessed by six stone steps; comprising five raised-and-fielded panel timber door having brass door furniture and plain transom light; surmounted by corniced canopy on console brackets with window over at first floor.

The east (rear) elevation has projecting gabled bay at right, further abutted by a lower gabled return; left bay has a 1/1 sash window to first and ground floor. Gabled bay has camber-headed bipartite casement to attic to left of a projecting chimney flue. Left cheek of gabled bay has leaded glass window at second floor, three-paned window at first floor and window at ground floor. Exposed section to right of return has a window at each floor. Return has over-hanging timber-sheeted eaves and three modern windows to gable, abutted at ground floor by the polygonal red brick extension. Right cheek has enlarged window at eaves level at right and a tripartite window in segmental-headed surround to ground floor. Left cheek has window under gablet to centre and two diminutive windows at first floor left. Three windows to ground floor. Polygonal single-storey extension is similarly styled as the main building and has a small cambered window to each face; abutted at east face by timber-sheeted door enclosing rear yard.

The south elevation has a variety of irregularly arranged fenestration with two windows at each floor.

Setting:
Prominently sited at the junction of Main Street and Church Pass, directly south of Holy Trinity Parish Church (HB03/10/017). Detached red brick garage to east with timber-sheeted folding doors opening onto Church Pass. Stepped and ramp access to front enclosed by red brick wall with modern handrail; to north is a low red-brick wall with sandstone coping topped by painted railings. Yard to rear enclosed by high Flemish-bonded red brick wall with timber-sheeted gate opening to north.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Flemish-bonded red brick
Windows: Variety of timber casements (some replacements)
RWG: Cast iron

Historical information

The Northern Bank in Portrush was built as a branch of the Belfast Bank in 1897-8 to the designs of Vincent Craig. (Girvan;PRONI)

The Belfast Bank was built at a period when Portrush was at the height of its popularity as a fashionable bathing resort. The building is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1906 as part of a streetscape which had become densely developed in the second half of the nineteenth century. Valuation records show that the bank replaced a mid-nineteenth century school and rent office of the Earl of Antrim, a simple structure valued at £10.

The second half of the nineteenth century saw banks expending large sums of money and employing the best local architects available, resulting in a range of styles among bank buildings that reflected the changing fashions of the era. Vincent Craig was commissioned, first by the Ulster Bank to provide branches in Belfast and Dundalk and then the Belfast Bank for whom he designed five branches between 1897 and 1901. The rather whimsical style of the current building with its tower and weather vane is thought to have lent itself to the seaside setting. The contractors for the new bank were McLaughlin & Harvey who completed a number of Portrush’s most significant buildings including the railway station and the Northern Counties Hotel. (O’Brien; www.dia.ie; Watson; Belfast Newsletter)

The current building first entered valuation records in 1898 as the property of the Belfast Banking Company, a bank and yard valued at £120. The bank building also provided accommodation for the manager who lived on the premises. Associated valuer’s notes show that the banking hall was contained in the front of the building while the manager’s accommodation was contained to the rear and on upper floors. The manager’s quarters were extremely spacious, comprising: a large drawing room, a sitting room and dining room, kitchen, pantry and scullery, six bedrooms and a box room and a bathroom and WC. The cost of construction was £3300 and the valuer notes that the building materials had been brought from Belfast, perhaps in contrast to urban vernacular buildings of the period for which the materials might have been locally obtained. The associated plan shows the bank and rear return with a separate outbuilding in the yard behind.

The bank is listed in the 1901 and 1911 census due to its status as the bank manager’s residence and the earlier census gives the occupier as William S Gordon, 44-yer-old branch manager who lived with his wife and two young children. The couple also employed two live-in servants, a general domestic and a nursemaid. The next manager was William J McMurray, 54, a native of Canada whose wife Rhoda had been born in Queen’s County. The couple had two young children and likewise employed two live-in servants.

In 1970 the Northern Banking Company Limited, which had been founded in Belfast in 1809, merged with the Belfast Banking Company Limited to form Northern Bank Limited. The company was acquired by Danish-based Danske Bank Group in 2005 and in 2011 the Portrush branch was earmarked for closure and is now vacant (2012). (www.northernbank.co.uk)

A historic photograph dating from around the time of the bank’s construction and the first survey photograph show that there have been some minor changes to the front elevation since the bank was first built. A dormer has been removed (after 1973) and a first floor balcony glazed over (by 1973). The front doorway was originally approached through an entrance porch which has since been fitted with outer doors (by 1973). The windows are all replacement as are the railings surrounding the building which appear to have originally been wrought iron.

The building was listed in 1977 and in 1983 repairs took place to the brickwork using some new purpose-made bricks. Ramped access was fitted to the front of the building in the 1980s. (HB file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/2/1 First Edition OS Map 1831-2
2. PRONI OS/6/1/2/2 Second Edition OS map 1853
3. PRONI OS/6/1/2/3 Third Edition OS Map 1906
4. PRONI OS/6/1/2/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1921-31
5. PRONI OS/6/1/2/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1946-50
6. PRONI VAL/12/A/1/119 Valuer’s notes 1898
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2A-E Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/4/22A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
1. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/30 First General Revaluation 1933-57
2. PRONI VAL/3/D/1/15/A/25 First General Revaluation 1933-57
3. PRONI D1898/2/28 Papers of W Stephens & Sons
4. Belfast Newsletter 1st January 1898
9. 1901 census online
10. 1911 census online
11. HB file – 03/10/021

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W D “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in North Antrim including the towns of Portrush, Ballymoney and Bushmills” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1975
2. O’Brien, E “Bank Building in Nineteenth Century Ireland” Irish Arts Review Yearbook, Vol 11 (1995) pp157-162
3. Watson, F G “Building over the Centuries – A History of McLaughlin and Harvey” Belfast: Nicholson and Bass, 2010
4. www.dia.ie
5. www.northernbank.co.uk

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A two-storey with attic three-bay red-brick detached former bank with round tower, built 1898 to designs by Vincent Craig and prominently situated at the east side of Main Street in Portrush town centre. An early example of the free style movement, the building has a distinctive architectural style and quality, retaining much of its original character despite some minor alterations to the main elevation. Architectural fabric and detailing are largely intact and the building has a well-preserved interior. The former bank is representative of the continuing growth of the Northern Bank at the turn of the century. Number 60 Main Street also makes an important contribution to the architectural interest and character of the district and is of interest nationally as an example of work by a prominent Ulster architect.

General comments

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