Summary
Former bank, 1922-1924, built for Lloyds Bank Limited; architect unknown.
Reasons for Designation
The former Lloyds Bank, 27 Fore Street, Redruth, Cornwall is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* its well-handled Classical frontage is a strong expression of its former use and creates a handsome presence on the high street;
* the banking hall survives remarkably well and is carefully detailed throughout, repeating the Classical idiom of strength and reliability.
Historic interest:
* with the history of commercial and personal banking in Redruth as an important economic centre from the early C19 to the mid-C20.
Group value:
* with other Grade II-listed banks in Redruth, particularly the former Devon and Cornwall Bank at 11 Fore Street.
History
For most of the C18 and C19, Redruth was a flourishing market town and a centre of the local mining industries. To serve businesses, mines and private customers, several bank buildings were erected during the C19 and early C20. In the years following the First World War, Lloyds Bank had two branches in Redruth: one at 11 Fore Street, which had opened as a branch of the Devon and Cornwall Bank in 1888 and was taken over by Lloyds in 1906; and at 27 Fore Street, a former Cornish Bank built in 1865-1866 which was later the Capital and Counties Bank, and was taken over by Lloyds in 1918. Lloyds Bank sought quotes to consolidate the two branches at the 11 Fore Street premises, but as these proved too costly; they rebuilt 27 Fore Street instead. 11 Fore Street remained in use by Lloyds until 1923 when it was sold to National Provincial Bank once the new building was complete.
The tender for the rebuilding of 27 Fore Street was won by Shellabear and Son of Plymouth; the quote of £14,739 was approved on 15 September 1922. A £1,073 quote for internal fittings was accepted in November 1923 and the bank opened on 25 April 1924.
Comparing a historic photograph from around the time of the bank’s opening with the building today shows that the ground-floor windows, which each had an arched top-light with three opening hoppers below and etched glass at the bottom, have been replaced and the sill heights raised to accommodate Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs). The entrance steps and railings shown in the historic photograph were replaced with a ramp and new railings in 1995. A rear extension was added to the building before 1967, which was extended again in the second half of the C20. Internally, the principal alteration to the banking hall was in around 1983 when a partition was inserted at entablature height across the southern bay to create a ‘cashpoint’ lobby. The first floor has also been subdivided at some point.
Details
Former bank, 1922-1924, built for Lloyds Bank Limited; architect unknown.
MATERIALS: faced in granite and limestone, slate roof.
PLAN: rectangular, with a long rear extension which is slightly skewed to the street.
EXTERIOR: the bank is designed in a Classical style, two storeys high and four bays wide, with a pyramidal roof hidden behind a parapet. The ground floor is faced in granite (probably not of local origin) with channelled rustication and four round-arched openings with scrolled corbelled keystones. The entrance is in the left-hand bay and has a later-C20 door, and the three window openings have later-C20 timber windows; two have been altered to accommodate ATMs. Below the level of the historic sills is a recessed panel, and at impost level and sill height are moulded bands, similar to the architrave above the corbels. Above the architrave is a tall frieze with recessed panels. Above this is a moulded cornice. The first floor is faced in light-brown limestone and is divided into four bays by two Doric pilasters and three engaged columns. In each bay is a six-over-six sash window with horns, within a moulded architrave with a keystone and two lintel blocks (similar to a Gibbs surround). The central two windows are topped with triangular pediments and the outer two have a moulded cornice. Above the entablature, there is a dentilled cornice and balustraded parapet. Directly to the north behind the frontage building is a later-C20 glazed octagonal lantern covering the dome to the banking-hall roof. The wall to the west (to the internal staircase) is yellow brick with a later-C20 access door to the roof; and to the south, the wall is rendered with irregular fenestration comprising timber top-hung windows and metal-framed side-hung casements, all with concrete sills.
INTERIOR: the banking hall is three bays north to south, defined by pilasters and ceiling beams with recessed panels running east to west. Each bay has a richly-embellished cornice comprising egg-and-dart, modillion and bead-and-reel mouldings; a central panel with moulded border and corner paterae; and a central rose with a circular wreath outer border. The northern bay has a circular dome lantern with leaded and green-coloured patterned glass and a frieze with the same mouldings below, in place of the rose. Below a plain frieze, an architrave with egg-and-dart mouldings runs around walls of the banking hall; to the south, this continues along the top of a later partition wall where it is either a re-use of the historic mouldings from the south wall or a good replica of it. On the walls in each bay are three framed panels with corner paterae, the outer panels being narrower, and each pilaster also has a framed panel; on the east wall the panels are on the upper part of the wall only. Central on the west wall is a bolection-moulded timber fire-surround with a modillion-bracketed mantel shelf. To the north are two openings, that on the left a remnant of a historic opening with a pilaster, and that on the right probably inserted at the time of the first rear extension. On the return of the left-hand opening is a large metal-framed window which overlooks a small internal yard. To the north of this are a series of mid-C20 and later extensions, which are of lesser interest.
To the north-east of the banking hall, a later-C20 door leads to a narrow staircase hall with a small window to the rear and roof access. The basement is accessed below the stairs, via a granite staircase, and comprises two small rooms; their walls are brick-lined and have a brick floor. The principal staircase is timber with spandrel panelling in the hall, simple newel posts and a panelled-in bannister over two flights forming a dog-leg. There is a large timber-framed sash window on the west wall of the upper staircase flight.
On the first floor, a mid-C20 door leads to a narrow corridor with a central arch and access to the rear roof to the west. A further door leads to two rooms on the front of the building (south), and mid-C20 WCs to the north-west. The two rooms each have two timber sash windows, and moulded timber skirtings, with a moulded timber architrave to the mid-C20 entrance door.
