Ulster Bank

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A neo-Baroque style three-bay two-storey terraced red-brick Ulster Bank to designs by Henry Hobart, dated 1920 and located to the south side of Church Street in Dromore town centre. Rectangular plan with two-storey return and two-storey extension (of no interest) to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and raised stone verges; red-brick chimneystacks to gables having moulded sandstone caps and decorative arcaded parapet punctuated by panelled piers to northeast elevation. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on ovolo moulded and dentilled eaves. Walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick with sandstone dressings to first floor and channelled ashlar sandstone to ground floor; smooth render to rear. Windows are divided metal casements opening on a hinge in moulded sandstone surrounds with three-stage keyblock and sandstone sills ; timber-framed sashes to rear.

The principal elevation faces northeast and is symmetrically arranged five windows wide with segmental-headed broken pediment to break-front central bay; rising from decorative sandstone pilasters with scrolled detail to base. Datestone to pediment. Ground floor has slightly projecting tall round-headed openings to both ends at ground floor flanking five ground floor windows (group of tree to breakfront central bay with “Ulster Bank” sign to fascia over). Round-headed openings have alcoved reveals surmounted by hood moulds with keyblock; that to right contains a window and is partially infilled with ATM; that to left contains a wide raised-and-fielded six-panel timber door with brass door furniture, surmounted by round-headed transom light with dentilled timber frieze, decorated pedimented keyblock and carved head stops; accessed via a single bull-nosed stone step.

The southeast elevation is abutted by adjoining building.

The southwest (rear) elevation is abutted to right by the two-storey return with hipped roof, which is abutted at right by the lower two-storey extension (of no interest). Exposed left bay has a window to first and ground floor. Return has a variety of windows including a large steel opening to ground floor.

The northwest elevation is abutted by an adjoining building.

Setting

Street-fronted to the south side of Church Street, forming part of a largely nineteenth-century terrace leading west from Market Square. Sandstone plinth wall to front, open to centre. Enclosed yard to rear bounded to river to south by mature trees and hedgerow.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: brick & stone
Windows: Metal and timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Ulster Banking Co. Ltd established their first branch in Dromore in 1917 in temporary premises (Ulster Town Directories). The two-storey bank Ulster Bank on Church Street was opened in 1922 and replaced a number of former shops, including a public house that had previously stood on the site.

The Irish Builder records that the Ulster Bank was designed by Henry William Edward Hobart in 1920; Hobart (1858-1938) was a local architect who assisted in the construction of the Cowan Heron Hospital (HB17/12/028A), designed the hospital’s gate lodge (HB17/12/028D) and formed the architectural partnership of Hobart & Heron in 1904. The builders contracted to carry out the design were the ‘Collen Brothers of Portadown’ who completed construction of the bank in 1922 when it first opened (Irish Builder, p. 160; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

When first erected the new bank was valued at £240, however this high rating was reduced to £95 between 1922 and 1925 as a result of a number of appeals by the owners; there was no alteration to the value of the bank by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

Knox states that the first Ulster Bank branch was opened on temporary premises in Bridge Street on 10th November 1917. Planning the construction of a permanent structure began in May 1918 when a number of shops were demolished to make way for the current edifice. Four years after the initial clearing work was carried out, the current Ulster Bank building was opened for the first time in March 1922 (Knox, p. 172).

The Ulster Bank on Church Street was listed in 1994 and remains the local branch of Ulster Bank in Dromore.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-20
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11C – Annual Revisions 1920-1930
3. Irish Builder (Vol. 62, 13 Mar 1920)
4. Ulster Town Directory (1918)
5. First Survey Record – HB17/15/037 (No date)
6. Ordnance Survey map – 202-4SW (1973)

Secondary Sources

1. Knox, W. J., ‘Decades of the Ulster Bank: 1836-1964’ Belfast: Ulster Bank Limited, 1965.

Online Resources

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A neo-Baroque style three-bay two-storey terraced red-brick Ulster Bank to designs by Henry Hobart, dated 1920. Detailing and fabric are largely intact and much of its original character survives. Of interest within the context of bank architecture in Northern Ireland. Although the building has been refurbished over the years, it retains much of its original fabric and remains a significant example of the work of a prominent local architect.

General comments

New listing criteria R & S to be added when available. NO'R 14.10.13