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In service: 1955 – 30 September 1971 |
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Image © Martins Bank
Archive Collection |
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Not long after the opening of Garrick Street, Martins Bank Magazine
pays a visit to see what the new branch is like, and as usual to pick up on
the “human” aspect of setting up another arm of the business…
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Branch
Interior Images © Barclays Ref 30/1043 Many of our branch
buildings are very much out of date and, while representative of the period
in which they were built, it would be quite wrong to perpetuate their style
in our
new buildings. Each generation owes it to posterity to keep up with its own
times and to make its legacy the best possible example of the period in which
it lived. As
will be seen in the photographs the elevation of our Garrick Street branch is
in the form of a grille composed of sculptured, closely-set vertical rods set
against the glazing, the whole within a white marble inner mount and a black
granite outer frame. A sculptured
relief in bronze by Geoffrey Clarke, illustrating by cryptograms the
activities of Covent Garden Market, traverses the whole elevation. Some might
think it looks rather forbidding and overpowering but it is certainly unique
so far as our new buildings are concerned. Inside,
the walls are panelled with Indian silver-grey wood panelling, and doors have
the same veneer. |
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A suspended acoustic ceiling masks the beams supporting the
first floor. A series of attractive
paintings, illustrative of the various facets of activity in Covent Garden — fruit selling, flower selling, printing, and
so on, adorn the walls of the customers' space. The artist is Sally Holliday, a third-year
student of the Graphic Design School at the Royal College of Art. |
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A picture by Sir Hugh
Casson, the architect of the building, hangs on the wall of the manager's
room.We visited the branch on May 25th and
were surprised to see what a busy little place it has become in such a short
time. Mr. C. J. Carpenter, the Manager, is enjoying his new branch in spite
of the necessity of putting in the much longer hours which a new branch
demands. He entered the Bank in 1925 and his previous service has been at 68
Lombard Street, Fenchurch Street, London District Office, Kingsway and since
1948 at Tothill Street as Pro Manager. His second-in-command is Mr. N. G. Willis
who commenced his service in 1940 at Southampton and came to London in 1949
to District Office. Number three is Mr. J. E. Seabrook who forsook the Civil
Service for the banking profession, as also did Mr. M. J. Handford, who is at
present attached to the branch. The
only girl is Miss P. A. Hollis, a young lady whose work is of a high
standard. She entered the Bank at Garrick Street last year. Because of its situation the customers are widely
representative of different countries and classes, and we were pleased to
entertain Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter at the Arts Theatre Club, which is quite a
good way of getting a bit of the atmosphere of Covent Garden. |
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As Martins Bank Magazine has decided that Garrick Street
Branch is a building “of Architectural Interest”, is it fitting publicity for
the Bank that in 1955, the trade magazine Architectural Review chooses to
publish a feature about it and amongst other things, we are treated to a
photograph of Geoffrey Clarke’s bronze relief depicting the activities of
Covent Garden. The article features a
number of interior photographs, and there is a superb image of the exterior, which
is shown above, and replaces the very grainy picture originally featured in
Martins Bank Magazine’s branch visit. |
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The Manager’s Office Image © Martins Bank
Archive Collection |
The basement
and ground floor of 23, Garrick Street have been converted to make a branch
office of Martins Bank, consisting of banking hall with clerks’ and cashiers’
working space, manager’s office with ante-room, strong room, cloakroom with
cleaner’s store, and a boiler room. The wooden stair serving basement, ground
and first floors, which was on the west side of the plan facing the front
entrance, was taken out and a reinforced concrete one, in two straight
flights between the half landings, inserted in its place between ground and
basement only, together with a bullion hoist. The public entrance was carried
across to the east side, leading straight into the banking hall, from which
the manager’s office is approached through a waiting area. The
ground-to-basement flight of a second stairway at the rear has been sealed
off, the remainder now affording sole access to the upper floors. A
reinforced concrete floor replaced the previous wood floor, and the wall
piers were cut back and replaced by new piers and concrete underpinning. |
Customer Waiting Area Image © Martins Bank
Archive Collection |
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The
stair-well is trimmed off by a 9-inch brick wall, supporting a trimmer for the
first floor. Otherwise all internal partitions are breeze. The only other
structural alteration was the removal of an intermediate stanchion in the
main ground floor elevation, to give a clear span: twin reinforced steel
joists were put in, supported on existing but strengthened piers. The
elevation is in the form of a grille composed of sculptured, closely-set
vertical rods set against the glazing, the whole within a white marble inner
‘mount’ and a black granite outer frame, which carries the lettering above. A
sculptured relief in bronze by Geoffrey Clarke, illustrating by cryptograms
the activities of Covent Garden Market, traverses the whole elevation. The
irregularities of the internal wall faces were masked by 1-inch ply Indian
silver-grey wood panelling; the flush doors have same veneer. A suspended
acoustic ceiling masks the beams supporting the first floor. Door linings,
recess trims and built-in furniture are in Honduras mahogany. The banking
hall floor is white cork carpet. A plinth of the same material in black
protects the wall panelling. Heating convectors, served by a gas-fired boiler
in the basement, are set within panelling and furniture. Beside suspended
fluorescent lighting for the cashiers and a desk light fitting for each
clerk, the hall is lighted by tungsten fittings shining on the ceiling |
Front Elevation showing Geoffrey
Clarke Sculpture Image © Martins Bank
Archive Collection Front Elevation showing Geoffrey
Clarke Sculpture Image © Martins Bank Archive
Collection (Some images are the copyright of Architectural
Review). |
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Title: Type: Address: Index
Number and District: Hours: Telephone: Services: Manager: |
11-92-30 London
Garrick Street Full Branch 23 Garrick St
London WC2 470 London Mon to Fri
1000-1500 Saturday
0900-1500 01 240 3361/2 Nightsafe
Installed Mr D J Hill Manager |
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Garrick Street is included in
Martins’ London Account Number Allocation, where Branches due for automation
are given “significant digits” to
identify them by account numbers issued at the London Computer Centre. The
Branch Customer Accounts will be identified by the significant digits 24. |
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1955 15
December 1969 30 September 1971 |
Opened by Martins
Bank Limited Barclays Bank
Limited 20-33-44 Garrick Street Closed |
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