Description

J M Johnston, 1923. 2-storey 4-bay flat-roofed bank with modernistic classical detail. Cream ashlar facade, red brick with concrete lintels to rear. Tall base course; tall round-arched ground floor openings with rusticated voussoirs and keystones clasping band course above; 2nd floor windows with stylised banded jambs; dentilled block cornice with diamond insets; tall channelled ashlar parapet with dies and pierced saltire insets; bays divided by shallow stepped pilasters with distinctive stylised carved motifs to top and bottom.

SW (FRONT) ELEVATION: tall doorway to outer left, panelled lintel with stylised bayleaf motif, ornamental iron grille with Greek key pattern and ?NBS? monogram in tall wrought-iron fanlight; ornamental iron gate with Greek key pattern and bayleaf motifs; single window above. Single windows to remaining bays.

NE (REAR) ELEVATION: 2-storey rectangular projection to centre bays; large single and paired windows.

Metal fixed-pane and casement windows with diamond insets to crossbar. Flat roof with asphalt covering on concrete.

INTERIOR: groin-vaulted vestibule of black, white and green marble with gold, purple and turquoise mosaic ceiling; 2 doorways with green marble surrounds, doorway to upstairs offices with fleuron studded architrave, granite balustrade and semi-circular radial fanlight, doorway to telling hall with semi-circular stained glass armorial fanlight and ornamental sliding grille; original cylindrical lamp and ironmongery. Compartmental ceiling to telling hall with stylised carved/plaster dentils.

Statement of Interest

An early and elaborate example of the stripped-down classicism most readily associated with the 1930s, fused with stylised modernistic elements which was to become Art Deco. Group with Nos 2 Bernard Street, 6-18 Bernard Street, 1-31 Bernard Street, 29-43 Constitituon Street and Robert Burns Statue.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17806843

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)