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Summary

West of England and South Wales District Bank of probable 1850-60 date. Subsequently an employment exchange, now shops and studio.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1385360: OLD EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGE

Other References/Statuses

• Old Listed Building Ref: 485822

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• GOVERNMENT OFFICE (Built, XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD (Between))
• BANK (FINANCIAL) (XIX to XXI - 1840 AD to 2012 AD (Between))

Full description

North Devon District Council, 1995, Listed Building Application Proposed Conversion of First, Second and Third Floors to form 6 No. Flats (Correspondence). SDV351287.

Child, P., 1996, Proposed Conversion of Upper Floors to Form Six Flats, Lloyds Bank Chambers, The Square, Barnstaple (Correspondence). SDV351286.

The rooms on the first floor of this imposing 19th century building have high quality plaster cornices and fire places. The second and third floors are less significant and can be altered without undue detriment to their character, but the extensive sub-division proposed for the first floor is less acceptable. In particular the conversion of one of the rooms would result in the complete concealment of all the fine cornice with its running scroll flat moulding, while the proportions of the room would be completely destroyed by intensive sub-division including an unsatisfactory partition running into a window. A single flat on this floor of the building would remove the necessity for damage to its internal architectural character.

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

English Heritage, 2012, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV348729.

Old Employment Exchange, The Square (Formerly Listed as: The Square (North side) Employment Exchange).
Bank, now shops and studio. Probably about 1850-60, re-roofed in 1880s. For the West of England and South Wales District Bank. Limestone ashlar on a granite ashlar plinth; red brick side walls. Slated mansard roof. 2 limestone ashlar chimneys with bracketed cornices and shaped tops. Red brick chimney at rear (visible from Boutport Street), also with bracketed stone cornice. Ground floor seems to have consisted of a single large room, presumably the banking hall, with offices in the front right-hand corner. Entrance passage at far right-hand end leading to staircase at rear. Classical mostly Italianate style. 3 storeys with garret. 3-window range to The Square, 2 windows to Boutport Street. Rusticated ground storey with vermiculated quoins and surrounds to openings. 2 round-arched windows in each front, together with round-arched doorways on rounded corner and at right-hand end of front to The Square. Moulded string course at impost-level. Plain window with transom lights. 3-panelled double doors on corner; 6-panelled door to stair hall. Dentilled cornice above ground storey. Pulvinated frieze and cornice above 2nd storey. Heavily bracketed top cornice and blocking-course. 2nd-storey windows have plain surrounds and cornices on consoles, except for plain right-hand window facing The Square; the other 2 windows on this side are of 3 lights. 3rd-storey windows, 4 to The Square and 2 to Boutport Street, have moulded architraves slightly buttressed at the front. Plain sashes in both upper storeys. The rounded corner has a plain shaped panel in the 2nd storey and a pair of shields with coats of arms in the 3rd storey. 3 dormer windows towards The Square, 2 to Boutport Street; all have triangular pediments bracketed at the front and sides.
Interior: only ground floor inspected. Main room has panelled walls and ceiling; enriched soffits to beams; both this and the former office have modillioned cornices. Entrance passage has similar cornice, together with chandelier boss. Geometrical wood staircase with slender turned balusters, carved step-ends, the balustrade voluted at the foot.
Historical Note: erected for the West of England and South Wales District Bank, which opened a branch in Bridge Buildings on the west side of The Square in 1845, moving to the present site 'some years later'. The bank failed in 1878 and was replaced in 1880 by a branch of the Devon and Cornwall Bank. This was taken over by Lloyds Bank in 1906.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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