Midland Bank Piccadilly

Description

Anxious to expand its business in the West End of London, the Midland Bank acquired the site of the old vestry hall at St. James’s Piccadilly in 1921. The design was a collaboration between Lutyens, who was responsible for the elevations and the ground floor ceiling, and Whinney Son and Austen Hall, who managed the project and carried out all the remaining design work. The building was completed in 1925. (Amery et al, 1981, Cat no.196)

St James’s Rectory follows, and then the church itself, set back from the street. In the nw corner of the churchyard where the vestry hall once stood, and itself like a little parish watch­house, the former Midland Bank by Lutyens, 1922–4. A very successful hors d’œuvre of his; Summerson called it impudent, illogical, and enchanting. Of Portland stone and orangey two­inch brick, chosen to harmonize with Wren, but not too high so as not to compete with him. The whole fits into a 42-ft or 20.8-metre cube. Twin entrances, one false, with oval openings and little square windows over. One tall central straight-headed window. Eric Broadbent did the carving. In the banking hall a moulded ceiling, w gallery, and much impeccable walnut (bank architects Whinney, Son & Austen Hall). (Bradley & Pevsner, 2003, p.558)

Bibliography

Amery, C., Richardson, M. and Stamp, G., (1981) Lutyens, the Work of the English Architect Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944): Hayward Gallery London, 18 November 1981 – 31 January 1982. London: Arts Council of Great Britain.

Bradley S & Pevsner N (2003) LONDON 6: WESTMINSTER. The Buildings of England. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Also Cited In

Green, E. (1980) Buildings for Bankers: Sir Edwin Lutyens and the Midland Bank 1921-1939, Midland Bank.

Butler, A., 1950. The architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens: the Lutyens memorial series. Vol III: Town and Public Buildings: Memorials: The Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool, Country Life: London and Scibners: New York.

LUTYENS, E., 1924. RECENT FACADES: THE MIDLAND BANK, PICCADILLY. Country Life (Archive : 1901 – 2005), 56(1448), pp. 522-523.

Listing Grade

II*

Listing Reference

1226603

Client

Midland Bank