The Old Bank at 35 Shaw Heath

The half-timbered building next to the Armoury public house in our post last Wednesday was built in 1912 as the premises of the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Co. Ltd. to designs by Manchester architects Barker Ellis and Jones. It became known as The District Bank from 1924 when the company became District Bank Ltd, before becoming the Edgeley branch of the National Westminster Bank in 1970, after a merger. The building's banking role ceased in 1996 and it was subsequently in office use. Currently it is occupied by a firm that makes wedding videos.

It was designated as Grade II listed for the following principal reasons:

1. As a good representative example of a small, early C2O bank designed in a neo-Tudor, half timbered style giving a reassuring appearance of longevity and respectability;
2. The eye-catching exterior design differentiates the bank from the neighbouring properties whilst enlivening the streetscape;
3. The unassuming yet careful attention to detail and design which unifies the building's external appearance with the internal use of timber panelling and Tudor-arched stone fireplace in the banking Hall;
4. The building retains its design integrity as a bank despite a number of alterations.

For a slightly wider and more colourful view see Geograph.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.