Bank, Plymouth

Grade-II listed, 1/5/75, interior & exterior listed. List Entry No 113 0057, Legacy System No 473326. Bank, now a public house. 1889 (Pevsner) for Lloyds Bank, conservatory extension 1986. Freestone ashlar with channelled and moulded rustication; roof behind moulded parapets; 3 lateral panelled stacks with moulded cornices, the stack behind the entrance porch with moulded buttresses. STYLE: richly detailed Italianate. PLAN: L-shaped plan with quadrant-plan entrance bay within the angle and the principal wing with bowed front and a quadrant-plan link on its left to an elevation which tapers back. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys plus attic storey over cellar; front ends of wings with linking entrance bay make an overall asymmetrical corner front of 1:3:1:2 bays. Plinth and coved round arches to ground floor; mid-floor entablature; fluted Corinthian columns dividing principal 1st-floor bays surmounted by an entablature with moulded and dentilled cornice; corner pilasters with carved coats of arms to top panels. 1st-floor window openings of wings have Ionic columns, open pediments and carved aprons. Attic storey has moulded window architraves with keyed segmental arches. Principal 3-bay wing is bowed to ground and 1st floors and set back above is a moulded triangular pediment with central cartouche. The bowed entrance bay has distyle-in-antis arrangement to each floor: open Tuscan porch with wrought-iron railings to ground floor with moulded doorway with carved blind overlight and pair of panelled doors set back; attached Corinthian columns above with rusticated jambs to window opening with heavy moulded and keyed hood with scrolled pediment and swagged apron plus floral hangings to sides. 2nd doorway to right of right-hand wing with recessed 6-panel door. Bowed bay to left of 3-window wing has 1st-floor window opening with rusticated jambs, keyed moulded head surmounted by shaped pediment and drapes to apron. Left-hand return elevation is rusticated and has mid-floor string and moulded cornice. Most window openings with horned sashes. INTERIOR: is very richly detailed. Vestibule has panelled dome with florets and central acanthus rose. The main room has coffered ceiling with moulded cornices with egg-and-dart and bead and reel enrichment to panels and dentils to perimeter cornice, the rib/beam soffits are panelled and carved; fielded mahogany dado panelling and large panels set into walls above. Other room has moulded ceiling cornice with enrichments and an original chimneypiece. This fine building and the excellent Derry's Clock Tower (qv) are the only buildings in their immediate vicinity to survive the Blitz and the post-war redevelopment. The setting of this building in its post-war environment seems to enhance its own richness and quality. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-: 667).