Description
A brick, concrete and glass bank in the modern Brutalist style, built 1975–76 for Clydesdale Bank to designs by Hay, Steel and Partners. It is set within Kilmarnock town centre's Foregate area.
The building is 3 storeys, has a flat-roof and is rectangular in plan with and a full-height, circular-plan stair tower attached at the southeast corner. The main elevation is geometrical in form with recessed and advanced sections, all appearing as a modern fortification of concrete, glass and brick.
The ground floor of the main block is mostly brick with canted projections to the west and south elevations. The first floor has projecting box windows encased by long concrete brackets, which appear suspended from an oversailing, mostly concrete top floor. This has narrow vertical windows set between a brise-soleil style pattern of concrete ribs (brise-soleil or 'sun-break' is a shading system). The north, east and west elevations have large projecting, blank brick panels with square and horizontal glazed openings to each corner. The brick panels to the east and west elevation are taller, stretching from ground level to just below the roofline.
The stair tower is glazed with a wrap-around, widely-spaced brise-soleil of concrete blades. Horizontal brick bands mark the stages, and a spiral staircase is visible within. The stair tower is attached to the main block by a glazed bridge adjoining the upper two floors, with pend walkway below. Doorways to the stair-tower and main block are in this pend. The entrance to the main block is recessed and there is a single brick column. The base of the building has a brick batter, with simple brick detailing in some sections.
The interior comprises office accommodation to the upper floors and a public banking area to ground floor. It has been largely refurbished in the 21st century and is excluded from the listing.
Historical development
This bank building was constructed in 1975–76 during a major programme of regenerative urban planning in Kilmarnock town centre.
In the late 1960s, Kilmarnock town council commissioned the consultancy, Percy Johnson-Marshall & Associates to prepare plans that would solve traffic congestion and regenerate the central shopping area (1968–71). This resulted in the demolition of older streets and buildings in the 1970s and their replacement with a new road system, shopping centres, multi-storey parking and traffic-free areas.
Clydesdale Bank acquired a plot within this central development areas, immediately to the north of the Foregate shopping centre (built 1972–74). The local architectural practice, Hay, Steel and Partners prepared the designs. Building work began in 1975 and the branch was opened in 1976. The bank had previously operated from premises on The Cross, on Portland Street, and was briefly relocated to Glencairn Square before moving to the new building at 30 Foregate.
In 1978, 30 Foregate was among the first of the Clydesdale branches to install an automatic cash dispenser (Kilmarnock Standard - Friday 10 March 1978 p.13). The signage on the building was replaced in around 2021 following the acquisition of Clydesdale Bank by Virgin Money. This involved the removal of the Clydesdale Bank logos on the brick panels (north and east elevations), and changes to the fascia.
Statement of Special Interest
Former Clydesdale Bank, 30 Foregate, Kilmarnock meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:
- For its high-quality exterior design as a striking example of modern Brutalist commercial architecture
- As an unusual example of a purpose-built bank of notable architectural quality dating from the late post-war period.
- As a prominent, well-designed building in the comprehensive development of Kilmarnock in the 1970s, which transformed the town centre.
In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: The interior.
The interior of the upper offices and ground floor banking area have been largely refurbished in the 21st century.
Architectural interest
Design
The former Clydesdale Bank at 30 Foregate, Kilmarnock is a striking example of modern Brutalist commercial architecture of the 1970s. It is a high-quality example of a purpose-built bank, set apart from other more modest bank branches of the period (see also under Age and Rarity). It was executed shortly before Clydesdale Bank invested in several major office commissions in Glasgow and Inverness.
The building is designed in a 'corporate' Brutalist style. It incorporates architectural trends of the Late Modernist period, including an emphasis on horizontal planes and an expressive use of concrete, brick and glass. The oversailing top floor and vertical detailing give a sculptural effect, which is reminiscent of a fortified structure, with a prominent corner tower and cantilevered top floor over largely blank lower floors – a design appropriate for the appearance of a secure banking premises.
While the Clydesdale Bank logos on the brick panels have been removed, the exterior elevations otherwise survive intact, with their asymmetrical composition. The plan form, with the distinctive stair-tower, also remains unaltered.
Hay, Steel, MacFarlane & Partners (later just Hay, Steel & Partners) had headquarters in Kilmarnock and mainly practiced in western and central Scotland where they undertook a wide range of jobs in the 1960s–80s. Commissions included hospital extensions, housing rehabilitation work, sheltered housing, parish churches and commercial projects. To the south of Foregate, they also designed the Burns Mall Shopping Centre in Kilmarnock (opened 1981).
For other branches in the 1960s–80s, Clydesdale Bank appear mainly to have commissioned the architect, Godfrey Dodgson Lodge, with projects involving both refurbishment and new-build elements (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). Typically, modest examples of Clydesdale Bank branches of this period include examples in Baillieston and Renfrew (opened later 1970s).
From the late 1970s to early 1980s, Clydesdale Bank embarked on several major commissions for substantial office buildings, including the extension to the St Vincent Place Headquarters at 150 Buchanan Street in Glasgow (1980, Godfrey Dodgson Lodge), Fountain House, 1 Woodside Crescent, Charing Cross, Glasgow (1981, (Walter Underwood and Partners), and the Longman Branch and Regional Office in Inverness (1983) (demolished).
This bank building in Kilmarnock stands out as among the most ambitious designs by Hay, Steel & Partners and is notable for its architectural quality within the building type during this period (see also Age and rarity).
Setting
Apart from the 1848 railway viaduct to the north (LB35951), the setting of the former Clydesdale Bank relates to the comprehensive redevelopment of Kilmarnock town centre from the early 1970s onwards.
The building is located in the north part of the town centre and is set among open carparks (to the east and west), access roads, and to the south, other large buildings constructed during this period; the Foregate shopping centre (built 1972–74), Kilmarnock Bus Station (built 1974) and the Burns Mall Shopping Centre (built 1981). The multi-storey carpark, immediately to the southeast of the former Clydesdale Bank has been demolished, to be replaced with a civic space (2025).
The building is prominent in this urban setting due to its scale and striking exterior design as a standalone building designed to be seen in the round, and its visibility across surrounding areas of open space. It was designed and built to function as part of a suite of town-centre commercial developments. While the demolition of the multi-storey carpark means that this setting has changed, the building still partly retains this functional context in its present setting.
Historic interest
Age and rarity
Purpose-built bank branches of notable architectural quality dating from the post-war period to the later 20th century are not common. Large numbers of banks erected in Scotland during the 19th and earlier 20th centuries meant that little expansion of the total building stock was required. Meanwhile, the amalgamation of historically separate banks into just three large firms (Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank) from the 1950s to the 1970s reduced the need to duplicate provision (Checkland 1975: 719).
During this period, Scottish banks mainly expanded their branch networks into growing areas of population. Many new branches were opened within New Town shopping centres or refurbished and reclad older properties on suburban or town centre streets.
Purpose-built examples of 1960–70 were typically more modest in design than 30 Foregate, with examples including the Bank of Scotland at 50 Hopetoun Street, Bathgate (circa 1965), the National Commercial Bank at 116 Cowgate in Kirkintilloch (opened 1967) and the Royal Bank of Scotland, 28–30 Sandgate, Ayr (circa 1970). Slightly later examples include the Bank of Scotland, Beresford Terrace, Ayr (1970) and the Royal Bank of Scotland, John Finnie Street, Kilmarnock (1975).
The former Clydesdale bank at 30 Foregate is set apart from many of other branch buildings of this period by the ambition, scale and quality of its design as a purpose-built bank building that has been little altered to the exterior.
Social historical interest
Earlier bank buildings of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries were designed to convey permanence, authority, wealth and prestige. Internal layouts reflected traditional client/staff interactions (banking halls and counters) and the secure storage of money (back rooms and safes). Founded in 1838, Clydesdale Bank was Scotland's largest bank by 1950, with examples of branches built in traditional styles including that on West High Street, Crieff (1868, LB48503), or the impressive headquarter building on St Vincent Place, Glasgow (1870-73, LB32841).
By the 1970s, when 30 Foregate was built, banks in Scotland were responding to rapidly changing circumstances such as new government monetary policy, the recent amalgamation of historically separate banks, fluctuations in the economy, the opportunities of North Sea oil, and the wholesale reshaping of banking techniques through mechanisation and the computer. There was increased competition as banks sought to expand their services and open new branches in growing suburbs and the New Towns. In design terms, there was a shift towards informality and functionality, and attracting customers through more welcoming and open-plan premises.
While Clydesdale Bank had become the smallest of the big three banks in Scotland by the early 1970s, it had pioneered a 'design management' programme to establish a clear and modern brand and continued to increase its branch network, mainly through refurbishment projects (Munn 1988: 242; 262). The building at 30 Foregate was described as one of three projects "of a major nature” in a report of 1976, alongside parallel works to modernise premises in London and Aberdeen (The Scotsman 1976). In 1980–81, Clydesdale Bank also opened a major extension to its headquarter building on Buchanan Street in Glasgow and Fountain House at Charing Cross, Glasgow. While the interiors of the former bank at 30 Foregate have been refurbished, the former Clydesdale bank at 30 Foregate has social historical interest for illustrating continued investment in the expansion of banking services and the adoption of modern architectural styles in the later 20th century.
Association with people or events of national importance
There is no association with a person or event of national importance.