Bank of NSW Beechworth

Bank of NSW BeechworthThe former Bank of New South Wales in Beechworth was built in 1856-7 on a prominent corner of Ford Street and Camp Street. Initially an agency for the Bank of NSW which was opened in 1853 and three years later as the gold rush grew in Beechworth the architects Robertson and Hale were commissioned to design the existing and substantial bank building.

The building was designed by the architects Robertson and Hale and is a conservative classical styled bank. It is a two storey rendered brick building in the Renaissance Revival style that fully utilises its corner site. The there is an emphasis on the chamfered corner which includes the traditional main entrance, quoined corners at first floor level and a distinctive coat of arms at parapet level. The latter is highly modelled and incorporates a kangaroo, emu, lion and rising sun surrounding a central coat of arms. The remainder of the building is devoid of decoration and windows are simple, unadorned rectangular openings. The ground floor of the building employs banded rustication, and this horizontality is accentuated by a continuous sill at ground level, a plain cornice dividing the ground and first floor levels and another at parapet level. A separate entrance in Ford Street originally provided direct access to the gold buying office. High granite walls, which surrounded the rear yard of the property for security, have been retained with minor alterations.

This building operated as a Westpac bank from the 1980s, later to become the Bank of Melbourne, and passed into private ownership in 2001.

 

 

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