Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/056

Address :
First Trust Bank 4 Queen’s Square Belfast Co Antrim BT1 2AL

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
02/02/1977 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Bank

Former Use
Bank

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-13 NE

IG Ref:
J3418 7454

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached symmetrical five-bay single-storey over basement Italian Mannerist style stone bank, built c.1852, to the designs of Charles Lanyon. Four-storey extension to rear, built c.1987, to the designs of Sam Stephenson. Square on plan, facing west onto Victoria Street with a bowed rear elevation and side elevations fronting onto Custom House Square and Ulster Street enclosed by cast-iron railings to all three elevations. Shallow hipped natural slate roofs with lead ridges running along the front and side elevations having a raised central section with a pie-ended hipped natural slate roof. Circular glazed lantern to the roof over the bowed elevation. Roofs set behind balustraded parapet wall with moulded coping and cast-iron rainwater goods throughout. Rusticated Portland limestone ashlar walling on a moulded granite plinth course with granite blocking course up to continuous sill course. Vermiculated quoins, raised V-profile impost course and full Doric entablature complete with triglyphs, mutules and enriched soffit. Round-headed window openings set within voussoired arches having decorative cast-iron window frames with margin panes and roundels. Deep moulded window sills set on advanced apron blocks resting on a further rusticated block inset with segmental-headed openings having wrought-iron grilles and framed by brackets rising from the plinth course. Symmetrical front elevation has an advanced bay to either end with each window set in a double-arched recess flanked by engaged Ionic columns and responding quarter-engaged Ionic piers supporting full entablature at impost level. The central entrance is flanked by round-headed window openings set in coved and voussoired recesses having pierced balustrade to the apron blocks. The central arched entrance is framed by a pair of Doric columns with responding quarter-engaged Doric piers to either end supporting an overhanging entablature. Doorcase set deep within the central arch and comprising a square-headed door opening with architrave surround flanked by engaged Ionic columns supporting full dentilled entablature with central cartouche and a semi-circular carved panel with voussoired head and panelled soffit to the arch. Double-leaf diamond-panelled hardwood doors open onto granite paved platform and nine nosed granite steps with copper handrails on decorative cast-iron posts. North side elevation is five windows wide, detailed as per end bays to front elevation. Decorative cast-iron spiral stair provides emergency exit from one of the windows and a segmental-headed door opening below the easternmost window having flat-panelled iron door providing basement access. Rear elevation is built in brown brick laid in Flemish bond with a central bow and the quoins, impost and cornice returning by a single bay. Gauged brick flat-arched window openings with 6/6 timber sash windows. The rear elevation is largely obscured by the four-storey twentieth-century extension. South side elevation is five windows wide, detailed as per end bays to front elevation. Setting: Located on the east side of Victoria Street with its north side elevation fronting onto Ulster Street and the south side elevation fronting onto Custom House Square. Decorative cast-iron railings on granite plinth wall with matching gates to the front entrance supported on a pair of rusticated stone piers with Doric entablatures to the capstones. Roof: Natural slate RWG: Cast-iron Walling : Rusticated Portland limestone ashlar Windows : Original fixed-pane cast-iron

Architects

Lanyon, Charles

Historical Information

The Northern Bank head office (now First Trust Bank) in Victoria Street was built in 1851-2 to designs by Charles Lanyon, then at the peak of his career (Brett). The building is shown on the large-scale plan of Belfast dating from 1858 which shows the interior layout: a central banking hall with flanking side-rooms and a curved section to the rear. Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) lists the Northern Bank and bookkeeper’s house at £800. The new bank office, of Portland stone, cost £14,000 and opened in the summer of 1852. (www.dia.ie) Brett criticizes the handling of the Italian style as ‘rather clumsy’ but nonetheless concedes that ‘the customer feels no qualms as to the solidity of the establishment’. (Brett) Larmour appreciates the vigour of Lanyon’s Neo-Classicism and his ‘lively and robust manner’ suggesting that the design derives from Sir Robert Taylor’s for Salisbury Guildhall. (Larmour) The Belfast Newsletter of the day praised the ‘new and elegant’ building as ‘imposing’ and gave a full description, noting that the manager’s/bookkeeper’s house (now gone) was situated in a rear extension to the bank with an entrance on the south elevation. (Belfast Newsletter) William Gillespie , the bank porter, was resident at the premises in 1911 with his widowed mother and two servants in their thirties. (1911 census) The Northern Bank extended the building in the 1960s and sold it in the late 1970s to the TSB (Trustee Savings Bank) which later became First Trust. Architects Samuel Stevenson & Sons re-organised the interior of the Lanyon building in 1976 to create a management suite, office accommodation and a computer centre. An extension to the rear intended to link the Lanyon building and the 1960s extension was built in 1986-8, also to designs by Samuel Stevenson and Sons, and the existing offices were completely refurbished. (Ulster Architect) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/8/30/4-4A – Large-scale plan of Belfast 1894-5 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931 4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/B/1-45 (1862-1930) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/1-45 (1863-1930) 6. Street Directories 7. 1911 census online 8. Belfast Newsletter, 11th August 1852 9. Ulster Architect March 1987, p4-8 Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of Belfast 1700-1914” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, revised edition 1985 2. Larmour, P “Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987 3. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993 4. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

V. Authorship W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

Attached symmetrical five-bay single-storey over basement stone bank, built c.1852, to the designs of Charles Lanyon. An academic exercise in a robust Italian Mannerist style, this bank building exhibits high quality stone masonry taking the form of arcaded single-storey elevations with superimposed classical orders of varying scales. While the interior has been remodelled in part, some of the external detailing is carried through to the decorative interior. Much historic fabric and detailing survive and the building represents the development of commerce in the City and is one of the major works of a prominent local architect.

General Comments

Date of Survey

04 October 2012