Danske Bank

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Attached corner-sited six-storey bank, built c.1972, to the designs of Building Design Partnership. Rectangular on plan facing east onto Donegall Square West with a secondary elevation facing south onto Howard Street.

Overhanging flat roof over setback glazed sixth floor. Cream Travertine clad walling arranged vertically with polished granite plinth course, splayed to the windows. Portland limestone vertical courses frame vertical curtain glazing strips. Recessed full-height slender window openings with dark aluminium frames and panels.

Principal east elevation is six windows wide with an off-centre entrance bay. Full-height window to the south end returning onto the south elevation forming a glazed corner bay.

Secondary south elevation is five windows wide, detailed as per principal elevation.

West elevation is blank with ribbed concrete panels and abutted by adjoining building to the west end only.

North side elevation is six windows wide fronting onto Wellington Street and detailed as per principal elevation.

Setting
Located on the west side of Donegall Square at the junction of Howard Street.

Roof: Flat
RWG: Not visible
Walling : Stone-clad
Windows : Aluminium framed

Historical information

The current Danske Bank was constructed as the Northern Bank’s head office and main city branch to designs by Robert J Greenslade of Building Design Partnership, who won a 1977 RIBA award for the building. The new bank, completed in 1976, replaced an earlier (1903) Northern Bank by Young & Mackenzie, a pair of Georgian town houses and a linen warehouse and is first shown on the OS map edition dating from the 1960s/70s (Patton; Irish Times 1st April 1977). The contractors were F B McKee and Co Ltd of Belfast (Building).

A series of mergers in the 1960s meant that the Northern Bank required additional accommodation for its head office administrative staff and its former premises had to be enlarged. (Building). Planning constraints in place to protect the dominance of the City Hall meant that the bank building was limited in height to the cornice line of the Scottish Provident building. Open landscaped offices were made possible with air conditioning and artificial lighting, while bronze tinted glass was used to control heat loss and gain, glass areas being kept to a minimum to reduce glare and traffic noise. The building was finished externally with Portland stone cladding (Building).

The architect, R J Greenslade, was resident at the Belfast office of Building Design Partnershp from 1968 to 1973 and, in addition to the present building, designed the University of Ulster and its student residences, Lamont House in Newtownbreda and the Sandy Row Redevelopment Scheme (Building).

On the 20th December 2004, the Donegall Square Head Office was robbed of £26.5 million, the largest bank robbery in UK or Irish history and a crime that remains unsolved (Gillespie). The company was acquired by Danish-based Danske Bank Group in 2005 (www.northernbank.co.uk).

The RIBA jury which gave the building an award in 1977 commented that the building achieved the difficult task of stating its importance as a major financial and commercial headquarters without challenging the dominance of the City Hall or adding ‘another strident note to an already cacophonous chorus from the hotch-potch of styles and periods elsewhere in the square’ (Plan).
David Evans appraises the Northern Bank as ‘ an excellent and relatively early example of good infill which brings a distinguished modern presence to the centre of Belfast. Its facades in Portland stone provide a severe counterpoint to its exuberant neighbour...’ (Evans et al).

References:

Primary Sources

1. OS Map 130 (1960s/70s)
2. Irish Times 1st April 1977
3. Plan July/August 1977
4. Building 26th May 1978

Secondary Sources

1. Evans et al “Modern Ulster Architecture”
2. Gillespie, G “The A to Z of the Northern Ireland Conflict” Plymouth: Scarecrow Press, 2008
3. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993
4. 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

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Attached corner-sited six-storey bank built c1972 to the designs of Building Design Partnership. A bold exercise in mid twentieth-century modernism with a pronounced vertical emphasis. Much historic fabric and detailing survive. The restrained design is reinforced by the quality of the natural stone cladding contrasting with the brown aluminium glazing and presents one of the strongest expressions of 1970s architecture in the City of Belfast.