Standing Building Recording

Date 18 February 2016 - 19 February 2016

Event ID 1020217

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1020217

NT 25711 74080 A historic building survey was carried out, 18–19 February 2016, of the former Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters building in advance of development work. The former bank building was constructed in the 1930s (replacing a previous bank building on the site built in the 19th century) to a design by Leslie Graham Thomson and Arthur Davis in a palazzo style. The interior of the bank was designed by Thomson and Connell and is thought to have been similar in style (and in keeping with the neo-Classical style of the building) as its predecessor. In 1958, the bank changed its name to the National Commercial Bank of Scotland, and

banking operations extended to the buildings opposite at West Register Street. In 1969, it became part of the Royal Bank of Scotland, becoming the bank’s head office in 1973. A multi-bay eight-storey building, the bank contains two basement levels with service rooms and two bullion rooms

to each level with a large and complex ventilation system still in situ. This rises to the main banking floor accessed from the main entrance, ascending to a further five floors of offices and other service areas for the staff at the bank. There are a few rooms, mostly on the second and third floor that retained their original furnishings finished to a high standard. Most notably, on the second floor, there is a large panelled Board Room, and the Manager’s Luncheon Room and adjacent Smoking Room on the fourth floor. The original character of these rooms will be maintained and reflected the senior position and importance of the manager’s at the bank.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Chris Stewart Group

Diana Sproat and Gemma Hudson – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES, Volume 17)