Summary
Former bank, now (2022) cafe and bar, built between 1869 and 1870 by William Botterill, altered in late C20.
Reasons for Designation
The former Hull Banking Company Bank, 1869-1870, by William Botterill and Son, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a lavish corner palazzo bank built in an Italianate style using ashlar stone and carved detailing to present an impressive outward appearance embodying confidence, reliability and security;
* the interior retains high-quality detailing, including enriched wall panels and cross-beam ceiling on Corinthian columns, a moulded cornice, and saucer dome;
* standing in a prominent corner location at the junction of Silver Street, Lowgate, Scale Lane and Market Place, it has group value with the corner-located former National Provincial Bank (1900) and former Lloyds Bank (1912), together visually enhancing and imparting a commercial character to the historic streetscape of this part of Hull Old Town.
Historic interest:
* the bank was designed by the prominent Hull architects' practice of William Botterill and Son for the Hull Banking Company, the town's first joint-stock bank formed in 1833 following the relaxation of banking laws.
History
The Hull Banking Company was formed as Hull’s first joint-stock bank in 1833, following the relaxation of banking laws after the 1826 Country Bankers Act enabled the formation of joint-stock companies and bank branch networks. Around 1869-1870 the branch at 32 Silver Street was erected to designs by William Botterill and Son. William Botterill and Son was a prominent Hull architectural practice, comprising William Botterill (1820-1903) and William Henry Botterill (1851-79), who designed a number of buildings, including Hull’s Exchange Buildings and the former Charterhouse School. The bank was designed with a south-east canted entrance leading directly into a small lobby and onwards to the banking hall (with a safe situated in the north-west corner of the banking hall). At the rear of the banking hall doorways led to a private side-entrance, manager’s room, basement stairs and passages to rear yards. On the floors above were offices. An 1888 drawing by Frederick Schultz Smith suggests the building originally had a balustraded parapet, ornamented with a pediment and finials, and a swan-neck pediment above the entrance porch.
The building remained the premises for the Hull Banking Company until 1894 when the bank was taken over by the York City and County Bank. In 1909 it was amalgamated with the London Joint Stock Bank Limited, and in 1918 The London Bank was amalgamated with the Midland Bank. It remained in use as the Midland Bank until around 1988, and it is now (2022) a café and bar.
Details
Former bank, now cafe and bar. Built between 1869 and 1870 to designs by William Botterill and Son. Altered in late C20. Italianate style.
MATERIALS: Ancaster stone, slate, rubble stone, brick.
PLAN: polygonal on plan.
EXTERIOR: the three-storey building with basement, is built in ashlar with a hipped slate roof and four offset end and ridge stacks. The canted (south-east) entrance bay has an enriched and moulded round-arch canopy, with a large acanthus scroll keystone, and a heavily moulded and dentillated cornice, carried on large ornamented and moulded brackets and grey granite columns with Corinthian capitals standing on moulded square stone plinths. Set within it is a chamfered flat-headed doorway, accessed by stone steps, with the words 'BANK' inscribed on the lintel, a six-panel double door and a semi-circular overlight (boarded – 2022). Both floors above have a moulded round-arched window, with an ornamented keystone and spandrels, flanked by stone Corinthian columns supporting a moulded entablature and heavily moulded and projecting cornice. The first-floor window has a balustrade. The second-floor window is shorter with evenly spaced moulded brackets to the eaves cornice.
The six-bay left (south) return to Silver Street is articulated with a plinth, pilasters dividing the bays, with a pair of pilasters between the second and third bays, and heavily projecting cornices to each floor. The ground floor has a rusticated and moulded plinth with rusticated pilasters with Corinthian imposts and panelled above to the moulded and dentillated cornice. Each bay has a round-arched window with scrolled hoodmould, panelled spandrels and apron. the windows have modern single-light panes with arched fanlights over. Under the left-hand window is a recessed C20 basement doorway. Under the other windows are elliptical-arched and keystoned basement openings. The first floor has a blocking course with low pedestals supporting panelled Corinthian pilasters which rise to a moulded entablature and cornice. There are balustrades fronting the six round-arched moulded windows, which each have moulded imposts, heads and keystones. The second floor has a similar arrangement but with paired fluted composite pilasters separating shorter round-arched windows with an enriched panelled frieze with moulded, modillion eaves cornice with pairs of scrolled brackets. Both upper floors have two-light casements with arched fanlights.
The right (east) return to Lowgate is of five bays with similar fenestration. The ground floor has four windows, with basement openings beneath, and a recessed entrance to the right-hand bay with steps to a chamfered doorway with an enriched stone lintel, a moulded six-panel door, and a large two-paned round-headed fanlight.
The north and west elevations adjoin adjacent buildings.
INTERIOR: the interior has enriched arcaded wall panels and a moulded cornice. It has a cross-beam ceiling, with guilloche and flower decoration and polygonal ceiling panels, which is carried on Corinthian columns. There is an off-centre blind saucer dome.
