Danske Bank

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

2 and 3-storey Late Victorian bank in red-brick and sandstone, built c.1901 to designs of architect Godfrey Ferguson. Located on the main street in Lurgan town centre, at the junction of Market Street and Carnegie Street, next to other mixed-use commercial buildings. The bank is L-shaped in plan with a 2-storey front to the N and 3-storey return to the S (originally Bank Manager’s house). There is a two-storey, flat-roofed infill extension (mid-late 20th century), to the main front elevation on NE and a large single-storey flat-roofed extension to the rear SW abutting the return.

Materials:

Roof: Westmoreland slate to original roofs /Single ply membrane to flat-roofed extensions
RWG: Cast metal to front/ uPVC to rear
Walls: Smooth red clay brick and yellow sandstone –brick laid in Flemish bond to front/ English garden wall bond to rear
Windows: Generally 1/1 single-glazed sliding-sash painted timber / Some top-hung uPVC to rear return/ top-hung uPVC to modern rear extensions

Front elevation (NE)
The front elevation consists of an original 2-storey 3-bay classical façade to right-hand side and a Modernist 2-storey infill bay to left. The façade is splayed at the corner of Market St. and Carnegie St. with the main entrance to the bank hall located here. The main façade is rusticated sandstone at ground level and red-brick at upper level. Window openings are generally square-headed with ornate sandstone surrounds and pediments. At ground level there is ashlar stonework at plinth level with a string course at cill level. Stonework is rusticated above cill level and window surrounds have bolection mouldings with keystone detail and cornice at head level. There is a modern painted metal or acrylic sign plate reading ‘Danske Bank’, located above the central window. There is another string course at first floor level. Windows are 1/1 timber sliding sash. The main entrance consists of a square-headed door opening with black granite moulded door surround and ornate pediment; triangular broken pediment with moulded brackets and decorative red sandstone oval panel with scrolled edges and raised lettering reading ‘ N B Co Ltd’. Doorway has original painted timber double-leaf panelled entrance doors with brass knobs; small ramped access to doorway with black square tiles and modest painted metal guarding with circular handrail. First floor level is generally red-brick in Flemish bond with windows similar to ground floor but with alternating segmental and triangular pediments to heads. The Modernist infill bay to the left consists of vertical panels of granite and brown brick with a plain sandstone plinth and fascia panel. There are 2 no. reproduction 1/1 sliding sash windows incorporated into the granite panel. There are 2 no. automated teller machines (ATM) in the brick panel at ground level. At eaves level there are decorative sandstone string courses and stone brackets supporting a painted metal ogee gutter. The downpipe is replacement painted metal. The roof is hipped with Westmoreland slates and 1 no. tall rectangular red-brick chimney, on left-hand side with decorative sandstone projections at cap and red clay pots. There is a single small roof-light on the roof.

Rear elevation (SW)
The rear elevation is generally plainly detailed with red-brick walls in English garden wall bond. On the left-hand side at ground level is an original single-storey gable with modern escape door in centre; it has a modern top-hung uPVC window to right and modern galvanized metal steps. At eaves level there are projecting brick courses supporting a painted metal ogee gutter. Roof is hipped with Westmoreland slate covering. The gable to the return above the single-storey projection is also plainly detailed with 1 no. square-headed window on far right at each level (first and second floors). Window heads are brick soldier course and cills are masonry. First floor window is top-hung uPVC with a metal grille; second floor window is 1/1 painted timber sliding sash. Eaves are plain with painted timber fascia and soffit and painted metal ogee gutter. Roof is as per front elevation. To the right at ground level a large 20th century flat roofed extension which abuts the single-storey gable and most of the rear elevation of the bank (of no interest). Above this on upper levels is original rear wall of bank on left (1 bay) and rear wall of 20th century modernist infill on right (plain smooth red-brick). The rear wall of bank is detailed as per other elevations with square-headed window at second floor level (top-hung uPVC) and a modern escape door below this at first floor level. The escape door opens onto a modern metal escape bridge at first floor level with metal railings; leads to metal escape stairs on SE boundary. Eaves and roof are generally as per elevations on return; there is a small section of flat parapet with plain masonry coping at eaves above re-entrant angle to return and to right-hand side of bank wall at junction with the modern infill extension. Side elevation of rear return (SE) has a mixture of square-headed openings at upper levels, similar in detail to others. It is rendered at ground level where there is a narrow external lightwell adjacent to the modern flat-roofed rear extensions. Windows are mainly top-hung uPVC with metal grilles. Eaves and roof are generally as per other elevations on return. Rainwater goods are painted metal and uPVC.

Side elevation (NW)
The side elevation is 2-storey to left-hand side and 3-storey to the right with a single-storey bay attached. The left-hand side is similar to the front façade and is 2-bays with a large semi-circular arched opening to the right-hand side bay. The arched opening, probably the original doorway to the Bank Manager’s House, has a large keystone head and a plain ovolo architrave. It has a round-headed window in the upper half and ashlar stonework to lower half (possibly later).The right-hand side is 3-storey with 2 narrow bays. Windows in this section are square-headed with plain sandstone surrounds and 1/1 sliding sash windows (windows diminishing at second floor level). The walls of this section are red-brick on each level with a deep stone plinth below ground floor cill level. Eaves and roof are similar to front elevation. There are 2 no. chimneys similar in detail to front elevation (1 no. centrally located and 1 no. to right-hand side). There is a small single-storey bay attached to the far right-hand side of the elevation with a pair of 1/1 sliding windows in similar detail. Stone plinth is continuous with adjacent bays and there is a plain stone fascia at eaves level, supporting a painted metal ogee gutter. Roof is hipped and in Westmoreland slate. To the right of this elevation is yard area to bank with plain boundary wall; wall cement rendered with tall plain piers in the centre and a pair of replacement galvanised metal gates. Adjacent to this is the Carnegie Library(HB14.23.049).

Side elevation (SE)
Side elevation (SE) is abutted to nos. 43-45 Market Street, Lurgan

To the rear of the bank is an enclosed yard with high walls and tarmacadam ground finish. Bounded to SE by the rear return and yard wall of the adjacent property (nos. 43-45 Market St). There is a smooth rendered/ red-brick wall and gateway to NW along Carnegie Street and a red-brick and random rubble wall to SW boundaries with the Carnegie Library; original arched pedestrian gateway with painted metal gate to SW wall.

Historical information

This bank was constructed in 1901-03, as the Lurgan branch of the Northern Banking Company, to designs by Belfast-based architect Godfrey William Ferguson (c.1855-1939).

It is located on a plot previously occupied by a house recorded in the 1890s valuations as the home of a Mary A. Comberton. In or just prior to 1900, as part of an urban improvement scheme, Lurgan’s town commissioners purchased this and several other neighbouring dwellings to the northwest, (the former nos.29-39 Market Street), and all properties situated within 'Margery's Lane', a narrow passage to the southwest. This area had been deemed 'unhealthy’ in a report of 1897, prompting the town council to clear it away and make a 'new street from Market Street to Roger's Court' (whose eastern half was roughly along the line of the present Millennium Way). The Northern Banking Company subsequently acquired the site at the southeastern corner of the new thoroughfare, (soon to be named 'Carnegie Street'), for £1,600 in 1901, and the new branch was opened in February 1903. Its completion gave the new opening off Market Street a suitably grand aspect, with the bank complimented by the equally ornate hotel / public bar (present no.25 - see HB14.23.045), built for James McMullan in 1901.

Commenting on the completion of the bank premises, the ‘Belfast News-Letter’ wrote:

‘The building is two-storeyed, the style of architecture being that known as “Italian Renaissance”, which lends itself to the purposes of a public building. The windows are designed with elegant proportions and according to the best classical authorities. They are all ornamented with richly-moulded stone architraves, and those on the upper storey are surmounted by moulded pediments, alternately circular and triangular, which give a pleasing variety. The ground floor is faced with V jointed white stone, ashlar chiseled on the face; the upper storey from the moulded sill course is faced with red brick, relieved stone dressings to the windows, and the whole finished with stone console terminating the green-slated roof. The same general design is observable in the chimneys, which are of brick, with massive white stone cornices and caps. In the bank entrance doorway a beautiful black and green sheeny polished granite has been introduced, and this, being richly moulded and finished with a moulded pediment enclosing a shield bearing the interlaced initial letters of the Northern Banking Company, Limited, forms a striking feature of the building. The entrance doors are of mahogany, swung on patent hydraulic hinges. Passing these doors, the vestibule, the floor of which is mosaic tiling, is reached, and opening from this are two doors, one for the public leading into bank offices, the other for the use of the staff, giving access to the several departments. The bank office, which is a lofty and spacious apartment, measuring about 30 feet by 20 feet, is worthy of visit. It fitted out in mahogany, and the counter and desks are specially noticeable for their design, rich colouring, and finish. Attached the building is the manager’s residence, of commodious dimensions.’

The construction work was carried out by contractors J & R Thompson of Short Strand, Belfast, and the total cost of the project was approximately £4,000.

Map evidence shows that the building retained its original form until at least 1975, but sometime between this date at 1991 (possibly c.1980), the neighbouring property to the southwest (no.41) was demolished and the narrow extension was added to this end. It may have been at this point that the second doorway in Carnegie Street that originally lead to the manager’s living quarters was blocked up.

The Northern Banking Company shortened its name to the Northern Bank after being merged with the Midland Bank in 1970, and was acquired by Danske Bank in 2013. The logo on the branch was altered accordingly in 1970 and 2013 to take account of these changes (with other variations in styling taking place between these dates).

References - Primary sources
1 OS town plans of Lurgan, 1856, 1906
2 VAL12B/14/9C-D (1894-1904, 1904-14)
3 Local Government (Ireland) Provision Orders (No.3) [60 Vict.], 1897
4 'Irish Builder', 15 August 1901
5 'Belfast News-Letter', 14 February,13 July 1903
6 'Building News', 27 February 1903
7 'Newry Reporter', 10 September 1903
8 OS town plans of Lurgan, 1906, 1975

Secondary sources
1 Mulligan, Kevin V., 'The Buildings of Ireland: South Ulster', (Yale University Press, 2013), p.433

Online sources
1 Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/works/view/6190/CO.+ARMAGH%2C+LURGAN%2C+NORTHERN+BANK
(accessed 2 March 2018)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

2 and 3-storey Late Victorian bank in red-brick and sandstone, built c. 1901 to designs of architect Godfrey Ferguson, located on the main street in Lurgan town centre, at the junction of Market Street and Carnegie Street. A very good example of a Victorian bank building with corner entrance and bank managers house to return. The classically detailed facades face the street and feature a natural stone rusticated lower level with impressive marble and sandstone door surround and ornate stone window surrounds to the upper level. Despite modern extensions to NE and rear and modernization of the banking hall in mid-late 20th century, the building retains most of its character and a significant amount of internal detailing, including stairwell, internal joinery and plasterwork. Sited in a prominent location in the centre of the town, adjacent to Carnegie Library, (HB14.23.049) and opposite the Public House at 25 Market Street (HB14.23.45), the building is one of a pair of important corner buildings in the historic main street and is of significant interest.