THE OLD BANK

THE OLD BANK, 15, 16 AND 17, HIGH STREET

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1396016
Date first listed:: 29-Jun-2006
List Entry Name:: THE OLD BANK
Statutory Address:: THE OLD BANK, 15, 16 AND 17, HIGH STREET

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1396016
Date first listed:: 29-Jun-2006
Date of most recent amendment:: 15-Oct-2010
List Entry Name:: THE OLD BANK
Statutory Address 1:: THE OLD BANK, 15, 16 AND 17, HIGH STREET

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: THE OLD BANK, 15, 16 AND 17, HIGH STREET

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: ST 75083 64844

Details

HIGH STREET 656-1/0/0

29/06/06 Nos.15, 16 AND 17 The Old Bank

GV II

A Neo-Georgian style bank built in 1914, possibly incorporating older fabric, to a design by Dunn, Watson & Curtis Green, restored in 1994. It has a deep plan and is built of limestone ashlar.

EXTERIOR: The three storey front has five bays. The ground floor has horizontal, vermiculated banding, with three eight/eight pane sash windows with voussoir heads with a large console shaped keystone. The outer bays have matching doorways: double panelled doors with architraves and console bracket heads. Above the ground floor is a plat band with a first floor sill band above. It has five large six/nine pane sash windows on the piano nobile, with alternating pediments and cornices to the window surrounds. The second floor has small three/three pane sash windows with eared architraves and a cornice above with the inscription 'THE OLD BANK ESTABLISHED 1760'. The building has a parapet consisting of five balustraded panels above the windows below and solid piers in between. INTERIOR: In the entrance lobby to the left is a bronze plaque which commemorates those bank employees who gave their lives in the First World War. The banking hall is to the rear with a shallow domed coffered ceiling and clerestory lighting. HISTORY: The Old Bank is on the site of the oldest surviving bank in Bath. The site has been used continuously as a bank since at least 1786. It was opened, at no.17 High Street, as the 'High Street Bank', by Robert Clement. Clement, since the 1750s had been carrying on some banking activities as part of his nearby drapery business. Subsequently it had various name changes and amalgamations, for instance in 1906 it was the Union of London and Smith's Bank, and was rebuilt in its current form when it became the National Provincial Bank by the prestigious London firm of Dunn, Watson and Curtis Green in a contextual Neo-Palladian style. SOURCES: S Clew, Banking in Bath in the Reign of George III , in: Bath History (1994), pp 104- 124. The Bath Chronicle (1994), Images of Bath, p 129 SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: The Old Bank in Bath (no's 15,16 and 17 High Street), was built in 1914 in Neo- Georgian revival style, possibly incorporating earlier fabric at the lower level, to a design by notable architects, Dunn, Watson & Curtis Green and displays a clear level of special architectural interest, both internally and externally. The building has an imposing style and greatly contributes to the local streetscape in the heart of Bath's commercial centre. The Old Bank is an integral part of an important group of historic buildings in the heart of the Bath World Heritage Site.

Listing NGR: ST7508364844

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 511427
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.