53 London Road North

Summary

A bank probably built in the 1860s, designed in an Italianate style.

Reasons for Designation

The bank at 53 North London Road, Lowestoft, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a good example of a mid-Victorian bank constructed in an Italianate style, designed to evoke the great banking houses of Renaissance Italy;
* for the high quality of the craftsmanship employed in the brickwork and stonework of the building's principal elevations.

Historic interest:

* for its contribution to the commercial townscape of Lowestoft.

Group value:

* for its functional and visual relationship with the adjacent Grade II listed former Post Office, built in a similar style.

History

London Road North forms part of the present commercial core of Lowestoft and was transformed during the C19 as the old medieval town became recast as a port for the Norfolk Broads and a seaside leisure resort.

The bank was constructed in the 1860s and is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey of 1884. At that time it constituted a single block at the front of the street three bays wide and four bays deep, with small outshuts and a garden to the rear.

While the Post Office to the south had already been built by the time the site was mapped in the 1880s, the opposite side of the street had not yet been developed and was occupied by a large private house with sprawling grounds.

By the 1920s the bank had expanded further into the rear garden. In the mid-1980s the rear extensions were swept away and replaced with a new two-storey rear wing occupying most of the original garden plot.

Details

A bank probably built in the 1860s, designed in an Italianate style.

MATERIALS: The building is constructed of gault brick laid in Flemish bond, with limestone dressings. The hipped roof is covered in slate.

EXTERIOR: The principal elevation faces onto London Road North and is three storeys high and three bays wide and has a projecting eaves cornice. The details of the frontage continue round to the first four bays of the north elevation along Surrey Street. The ground floor is rusticated to the springing points of the round arches that surround window openings in each bay, all of which are in-filled with late C20 replacement glazing in addition to an ATM and a doorway. An early C21 fascia board wraps around the building beneath the first-floor plat band. At first floor, there are two-over-two sash windows with chunky Italianate surrounds and cornices supported on consoles. The second-floor fenestration (also two-over-two sashes) has more restrained surrounds and features panelled stone aprons beneath the cills.

The 1980s rear extension is five bays long and continues the floor heights of the principal block, as well as the use of brick and stone.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

391337

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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