Description

1906. 2-storey L-plan bank and bankhouse in Free Baronial style with single storey service ranges to rear. 4 bays to Braehead plus bold octagonal 3-storey engaged angle turret at corner of Braehead and Townhead Street with conical slated roof and ball finial. Projecting bracketed eaves to principal elevation broken by wallhead gables; irregular fenestration, some roll-moulded and round-arch headed openings. Stugged, squared and snecked red sandstone; polished ashlar dressings; hoodmoulds linked as stringcourse between ground and 1st floors.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: bankhouse with bowed oriel to ground and 1st floors to outer L; blocked entrance to L (now auto-teller) within round-arched surround with bracketed hood; single window above. 2 bays to bank at centre R with small bipartite to 1st floor L. 4 steps to recessed bank entrance at base of turret with timber panelled 2-leaf outer door; 'BANK' carved above; Doric columned doorpiece with acanthus consoles with thistle detail supporting entablature, carved fretwork above; small oval window to L and R ground with wrought-iron grilles; 1st floor windows corniced with elaborate strapwork over; 3 small windows to attic divided by attenuated brackets.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: single storey piended roof range in re-entrant angle of L-plan; piended roof single storey and attic range at right angles to R with dormer, 3 bays to S elevation; catslide wallhead dormers; tripartite stair window.

S GABLE: 2-bay gable; single storey wing with blocked bipartite to R.

N GABLE: 2 bays.

Timber plate glass sashes. Greyish-green slates laid in diminishing courses; tall corniced ashlar gable, wallhead and ridge stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods with shaped hoppers.

INTERIOR: Bank: vestibule with part glazed inner doors and cornice; largely modern bank interior; original timber panelled dado and window embrasures; strong room with plaque 'William Paterson & Son, Smiths, Gasfitters, Bellhangers, Glasgow'; unpainted timber chimneypiece (ground floor) with tiled slip; unpainted attic timber chimneypiece with orange tiled slip and cast-iron hood. Bankhouse: turned timber balustrade to staircase; tripartite stained glass stair window with foliate motifs; guilloche band above cornice to 1st floor principal room and arch to oriel bay (in turret); timber stair to attic; timber panelled doors (unpainted); timber and part-glazed door to turret room; timber boarded surrounds to small windows.

BOUNDARY WALLS: coped squared and snecked red sandstone walls of various heights to front and sides; square gatepiers to bankhouse with centrally raised caps; coped random rubble grey stone wall to rear.

Statement of Interest

This is a prominent red Mauchline sandstone building in a style more reminiscent of Glasgow than Beith. The only red sandstone building in the town, the bank is located in the centre of Beith and remains largely intact. An earlier bank building on this site is marked on the 2nd edition OS map of 1897. The architect remains unknown but it is possible that it was a Glasgow architect or perhaps a firm from Ayr who was responsible for the design. Indeed the firm of Baird and Thomson may have undertaken the commission as they were employed by the Clydsedale Bank to design premises in Glasgow.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17829127

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)