Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/06/036

Address :
Walkers Bank Buildings 54 Bridge Street Banbridge Co Down BT32 3JU

Townland:
Ballyvally

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Shop - Terrace

Former Use
Bank

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
220/8

IG Ref:
J1260 4606

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

An Italianate stucco three-and-a-half-storey-over-basement two-bay terraced former bank; built c.1865 and converted into a shop in 1907. Located to the west side of Bridge Street in Banbridge town centre. Square on plan with double-height gabled return and single-storey lean-to porch to rear. Pitched natural slate roof with raised stone verges and rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting dentilled eaves. Walling is painted smooth render with string course between floors and string course at impost level to upper floors. Windows are round-arched (segmental-arched to second floor) timber sliding sash with moulded archivolts to impost level, keyblock and continuous sills. 1/1 to first floor; 2/2 to second floor with horizontal glazing bars; modern shop-front with plate-glass windows to ground floor. The principal elevation faces east and is two sets of paired windows wide to upper floors. Ground floor has, at left, a bolection-moulded raised-and-fielded six panel timber door in shouldered opening with brass door furniture in a moulded reveal accessed by a single bull-nosed stone step and surmounted by a round-arched blind overlight with corbels and keyblock. To centre is a modern shop-front with two plate-glass windows flanking a central recessed doorway with glazed metal-framed door. Applied lettering above doorway reads “WALKERS SOFT FURNISHINGS”. Porch has modern square tiles. The south elevation is almost entirely abutted by the adjoining building. The west (rear) elevation is abutted by the double-height gabled return with modern timber door to left of centre. Asymmetrical fenestration to upper floors; two windows to left at first and second floor; between them to right is a stairwell window. The north elevation is almost entirely abutted by the adjoining listed building (HB17/06/021). Setting Prominently sited at the northern end of the main thoroughfare in the centre of the town. Street-facing with car-park to rear and adjoining listed building to north (HB17/06/021). Roof: Natural slate Walling: Smooth render Windows: Timber RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The building was constructed as a branch of the Northern Bank in 1865/6 at the height of the prosperity brought to the market town by the linen industry. When the bank moved to adjoining premises in 1907, the building was converted for use as a shop. Since the early 1930s it has been the premises of Walker and Co who have connections to an important former linen-producing concern in the Banbridge area. The Northern Bank announced the opening of their Banbridge branch at the company’s AGM held in September 1866. (Economist of 20th October 1866) The bank is first shown on the third edition OS map of c1900 and was added to the valuation town plan of Banbridge after it was drawn up c1864, replacing outbuildings beside a mill race (now gone). The bank is first listed in the Annual Revisions fieldbook commencing in 1864 and is valued at £75 for the bank and £1for the garden to the rear. The occupier is the Northern Banking Company and the manager John Butt. The premises is leased from the Marquis of Downshire. In 1870 the valuation was increased to £75 following the addition of outbuildings to the plot, but was reduced again to £74 in 1880 following an appeal. In 1907 the Northern Bank built new premises adjoining the current building, to designs by William Godfrey Ferguson and the former bank was subsequently let out to tenants. (www.dia.ie) The first tenant in 1909 was draper Alexander Rowney. Rowney inserted a shop front into the building for his drapery business and added a return in the same year at a cost of £130. Photographs in Young and Quail’s collection of ‘Old Banbridge’ show the building c1910 as a draper’s shop with the words ‘A Rowney & Co’ painted above the awning. The photograph shows that the building formerly had two ornate dormer windows and spectacularly tall chimneys to each gable. The windows and chimneys have since been removed. Above the shop on the first floor were a kitchen, pantry, drawing room and dining room, on the second floor, three bedrooms and a bathroom and in the attic three bedrooms. The 1911 census shows that Alexander Rowney was the head of a substantial household, comprising his own family, a wife and seven children and four employees in their twenties. The three female employees worked as a dressmaker, milliner and a shop assistant and there was a further male shop assistant. Rowney’s eldest daughter was also working in the shop and his oldest son was employed as a cycle mechanic. Subsequent tenants of the shop and living accommodation were Marcus W McLean (1917) and Samuel Hemphill (1925). In 1933 the shop was taken over by Walker and Co who remain the occupiers to the present day. A power loom factory was built by William Walker outside Banbridge in 1865 and William Walker and Co Ltd was still producing linen in Banbridge in 1939, as photographs compiled by Angela Dillon attest. (Dillon) The First General Revaluation of the early 1930s lists William Johnston Walker trading as Walker and Co as the occupiers and the firm is leasing the building from Robert Rowney who now lives in New York. The house, shop and yard are revalued at £73 later reduced to £68 and described as a ‘large double fronted shop with show room at back’. There was a separate entrance to the house which had ‘excessive accommodation’. The first floor accommodation comprised a landing, two large receptions at the front, a kitchen, scullery (with cold water only) and on the second floor two large front bedrooms, one back bedroom and bathroom with bath lavatory and WC. The valuer commented that the bathroom fittings were ‘old fashioned’. On the top floor were unused attic bedrooms with dormer windows. There was a basement under the shop, but this was prone to flooding after heavy rain. The plan and dimensions show that the door to the front facade led to the living accommodation and there was a fitting room in the return to the rear. The premises continue to be run as a shop by Walker & Co. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 First Edition OS Map 1833 2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 Second Edition OS map 1860 3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 Third Edition OS Map (c1900) 4. PRONI OS/6/3/27/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6A-H Annual Revisions (1864-1929) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7A-C Annual Revisions (1899-1930) 7. Economist of 20th October 1866 Secondary Sources 1. Dillon, A “Images of Ireland, Banbridge”Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1997 2. www.dia.ie 3. Young, A F and Quail, D “Old Banbridge” Stenlake Publishing, 2002

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

An Italianate stucco three-and-a-half-storey-over-basement two-bay terraced former bank; built c.1865 and converted into a shop 1907. Altered over the years with an almost fully refurbished interior and no remaining traces of its former use as a bank, the shop-front to ground-floor was inserted c.1910 and replaced in recent years. Despite these changes the building retains its architectural integrity and its style alludes to its former use as a public building and has some local interest in the commercial development of Banbridge during the middle part of the nineteenth century. However, it is of a relatively common style and not among the best examples of the type.

General Comments

Date of Survey

24 November 2011