58 High Street

Summary

Bank, 1866, to designs by Frederick Chancellor. Extended around 1970 and upper floors converted flats in 2016.

Reasons for Designation

58 High Street, Tenterden, 1866 to designs by Frederic Chancellor, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a strong example of a mid-C19 bank in the popular Italianate palazzo style;
* for the quality of its brick and stonework which displays notable craftsmanship.

Historic interest:

* in its reflection of the mid-C19 expansion of provincial banking, here prominently expressed on a largely pre-C19 high street.

History

58 High Street, Tenterden was built in 1866 to designs by Frederic Chancellor for the London and County Bank. The ground floor and basement continue to be occupied by successor bank, NatWest (2024).

At some point, probably in the first half of the C20, the bank’s principal entrance was moved from the central bay to the far left, a night safe was installed and the basement windows were removed, the openings carefully infilled with brickwork. The building was extended to the rear at ground floor around 1970 and an ATM was installed in the early 1980s. The first and second floors were converted into two self-contained flats in 2016 and the building’s chimney stacks were reduced in height in 2020.

The Surrey, Kent and Sussex Banking Company was established in 1836, becoming the London and County Bank in 1839. The company grew through a succession of acquisitions and in 1909 it merged with the London and Westminster Bank to become the London, County and Westminster Bank Limited, known as Westminster Bank from 1923. A merger between Westminster Bank, District Bank and National Provincial Bank was announced in 1968, operational from 1970 as National Westminster Bank, or, NatWest.

Frederic Chancellor (1825-1918) had a long and prolific architectural career and was a notable public figure in his home town of Chelmsford, Essex, where he served seven terms as mayor between 1888 and 1906. His early career was spent working for James Beadel and Son before he established his own practice in around 1860. He worked on public and private commissions, latterly becoming known particularly for ecclesiastical work. He designed a number of branches for London and County Bank, some of which are now listed at Grade II. These include 49 Stratford Broadway, London, 1876 (National Heritage List for England (NHLE entry 1080992); 32-34, Borough High Street, London, 1862-63 (NHLE entry 1378346) and 3 London Street, Basingstoke, 1864 (NHLE entry 1092580).

Details

Bank, 1866, to designs by Frederick Chancellor. The upper floors were converted to flats in 2016.

MATERIALS: red brick with Bath stone dressings; the roof is slate.

PLAN: the principal range is roughly rectangular in plan and faces south onto Tenterden High Street. The roof has a shallow pitch, is hipped and has tall end stacks. To the rear is a long, narrow three-storey range. A single-storey, flat-roofed extension was added to the rear range in about 1970; this extension is excluded from the listing.

The ground floor and basement are in commercial use, the plan appearing to have been extensively reordered it the C20. The upper floors are self-contained flats.

EXTERIOR: the building is in an Italianate palazzo style with five regular bays over three diminishing storeys raised on a brick plinth. At the eaves is a deep stone bracketed cornice which returns to the sides and rear of the building.

Ground and first floor window openings have distinctive rubbed red brick arches with a segmental intrados and pointed segmental extrados. The ground floor arches have a carved console keystone and rest on carved stone piers with pairs of pilasters with foliate capitals. The openings are identical, bar that to the far left being the principal entrance: a six-panel double door moved from its original location in the central bay. The central bay is now a window with one-over-one sliding sash window to match the other three. Above is a stone cornice and fascia.

First and second floors are divided by a stone string course and brick modillion band; windows are two-over-two sliding sashes, recessed within stone architraves with spiral ribbon and rope edge mouldings.

The end stacks, though now reduced in height and having lost their flared coping stones, are prominent features of the roof form.

INTERIOR: the basement retains fragmentary C19 features, such as the strong room door and square iron rod balusters to the basement stair. Otherwise, the visible interior fabric of the bank is of late-C20 or early C21 date.

Based on record photographs, the upper floors are not believed to retain any historic features of note.

Sources

Books and journals
Newman, J, The Buildings of England, Kent: West and the Weald (2012), pp 589-590

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