Addresses
Type of place
Bank
Period
Interwar 1919-1939
Style
Stripped Classical
This is an image of the local heritage place known as Bank of New South Wales (former)
Bank of New South Wales (former)
Addresses
Type of place
Bank
Period
Interwar 1919-1939
Style
Stripped Classical
This bank building, demonstrating elements of the Interwar Stripped Classical style, was completed in 1921 for the Bank of New South Wales. Constructed at a time when South Brisbane was experiencing a period of increasing prosperity, the bank is significant as an example of 1920s bank architecture and for its aesthetic qualities.
Lot plan
L100_SP246590
Key dates
Local Heritage Place Since —
Date of Citation —
Construction
Walls: Face brickCriterion for listing
(A) Historical; (D) Representative; (E) AestheticInteractive mapping
Lot plan
L100_SP246590
Key dates
Local Heritage Place Since —
Date of Citation —
Construction
Walls: Face brickCriterion for listing
(A) Historical; (D) Representative; (E) AestheticInteractive mapping
History
The former Bank of New South Wales on the corner of Stanley and Vulture Streets was built in 1921 or 1922. The Bank had acquired this prestigious corner site opposite the South Brisbane Town Hall and the Municipal Library in the 1890s due to bankruptcy of the original owners.
This branch of the Bank of New South Wales was previously situated at 346 Stanley Street, between Ernest and Tribune Streets from the 1870s until it moved to this site in the 1920s.
The bank has had numerous tenants in the upper floor of the building, namely dentists, medical practitioners, and estate agents.
Description
This two storey building is located on a prominent site at an acute corner between Stanley and Vulture Streets. The building’s form is greatly influenced by its location, with its use of the truncated corner as an entry. This corner treatment is emphasised for the use of a cylindrical element, which appears as part of the stepped plinth over the entry doors, and is then reflected in the frieze and parapet directly above it. This section of the parapet appears to gain support from a pair of tapering columns one on either side of the entry doors.
Centred above the entry doors and behind the line of the columns is a single double-hung window.
The sides of the building are divided into bays of applied rustication, which contrast with the overall reed brick masonry constructions. The bays consist of separate bands of rustication, which run to either side of both upper and lower windows. These extend to the height of the frieze but continue as solid band connecting bays below the will of the lower level windows. Below the sills of the upper level windows between bays are decorative festoons. The frieze also recognises the division of bays by the use of recessed rectangular or square panels in series above each bay. The banks signage occurs above the moulding on the corner cylindrical section of the parapet. The plinth level of the bank is disturbed by the changing external footpath level, which rises up Vulture Street.
The Vulture Street façade has a sloping ground plane. The first bay away from the entry is the same as that on the Stanley Street side, as indeed is the second apart from the different level of the ground plane and plinth. This makes the building symmetrical at the upper level back to the line of the second window. From here the buildings sides differ. On the remaining section of façade on Vulture Street there is a triplet of windows on the upper level flanked by individual windows at each end on the lower level. A finishing band of rustication runs down the bank corner.
On the Stanley Street frontage after the second line of windows there is a bay that matches the first. Then there is a bay of masonry which has a doorway centred on it with highly ornamental architrave. This has been bricked up using a brick of a slightly different colour. The final bay is slightly wider than the first, and the lower level window has a lower windowsill.
Statement of significance
Relevant assessment criteria
This is a place of local heritage significance and meets one or more of the local heritage criteria under the Heritage planning scheme policy of the Brisbane City Plan 2014. It is significant because:
Citation prepared by — Brisbane City Council (page revised February 2024)