Former NatWest Bank

Summary

A former branch of a banking chain, designed by Thompson and Walford in 1908, now converted to partial domestic use.

Reasons for Designation

The former NatWest Bank, 60 High Street, Esher by Thompson and Walford of 1908 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest

* the building has carefully considered detailing, and is amongst the first examples of a highly competent amalgam of different C18 motifs which draws on domestic architecture of that period to create a convincing new style, suited to suburban High Street architecture.

Historic interest:

* as an early example of neo-Georgian design as applied to bank buildings.

Group value:

* with a group of listed buildings, including The Bear Hotel (Grade II), the Pump in front of the Bear Hotel (Grade II), Church of St George (Grade I) and the Statue of Britannia (II).

History

The building was initially designed in 1908 for the London and County Bank by the architects Thompson and Walford, and erected on a site at the corner of Church Street and High Street which had been previously built upon. The footprint of the building as it is first shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1913 is the same as the present building. Externally, the building is little altered, attested by historic photographs in the Francis Frith collection and Surrey Archives.

The firm established by Eric Thompson and James Thomas Walford was formed in 1904 and designed a number of notable medium and large-scale bank and office buildings in classical styles including The Australian Mutual Provident Society, 73-76 King William Street; 2-3 Old Broad Street and 10 Waterloo Place, all in London and built in the early years of the C20.

Details

A former branch of the London and County Bank (later NatWest Bank) of 1908, designed by Eric Thompson and James Thomas Walford in a neo-Georgian style.

MATERIALS AND PLAN: multistock brick, laid in English bond with rubbed brick and Portland stone dressings with a hipped roof of green slates with lead flashings. The building is of three storeys.

EXTERIOR: both principal facades, facing south to the High Street and east to Church Street have five bays, symmetrically disposed, with the outer bays defined by rubbed brick pilasters. Between the first and second floors a continuous entablature runs around both fronts with rubbed brick to the architrave and to the frieze which has a continuous band of festoons in high relief. The cornice is of stone with modillions. Around the base is a stone plinth and to the top of the wall is a stone balustrade with vase balusters. The lower two floors have segmental heads to the sash windows and the top storey has flat arched heads. Ground-floor windows have dark stained oak glazing bars and frames, and stone surrounds with lugs and shoulders and aprons. The first floor windows are multi-pane, architrave and flush exposed sashes of six-over-six form and have rubbed brick surrounds with matching aprons, all window openings having keystones. The ground floor on the southern side has a doorway to the far left with an aedicular surround of stone with an open pediment supported on brackets, an arched fanlight and panelled door. To far right is a smaller doorway, also in an elaborate surround with an oval window above. The western front has a similar doorway to far left. The right-hand bay on this flank is slightly canted to accommodate the angled ground plan of the site. Chimney stacks remain to full height with moulded caps.

INTERIOR: not inspected.

Sources

Books and journals
Holder, Julian, McKellar, Elizabeth, Neo-Georgian architecture 1880-1970 : a reappraisal, (2016), 109-122
Brittain-Catlin, T, Horace Field and Lloyds Bank in Architectural History, Vol. 53, (2010), 271-294

Websites
Francis Frith photograph of 1960, accessed 22/9/21 from https://www.francisfrith.com/esher/esher-the-crossroads-c1960_e64025
Photo of Esther High Street c1910, accessed 22/9/21 from https://www.francisfrith.com/esher/esher-high-street-c1910_e64001
Surrey Archives photo c 1905, accessed 22/9/21 from https://www.surreyarchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/SHILL_PC_59_3

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