National Westminster Bank, "The Gibson Hall" (built as The National Provincial Bank of England) by John Gibson. 15 Bishopsgate, corner of Threadneedle Street. London. Erected 1864-65, and opened in 1866, with additional work in 1878.
[Click on these images for larger pictures.]
Metopes for the National Provincial Bank
The National Provincial Bank's head office in Bishopsgate was designed by the architect John Gibson in the Italianate style. A distinctive feature of the building was its sculptural decoration. The architectural reliefs on the façade were designed by John Hancock (1824-69) and Charles Henry Mabey (1835-1912). Hancock designed Manufacture, Agriculture, Navigation, Commerce, The Arts and Science while Mabey designed Shipbuilding and Mining. Various hands carved the panels themselves (see The Builder, 902).
Benedict Read has discussed the sculptural reliefs by Hancock:
Another fine series of architectural sculptures on a Gibson building occurs at what is now the National Westminster Bank in Bishopsgate in the City of London, of 1864–5. Here we meet another type of classical architectural sculpture involving rectangular relief panels, also known as metopes; the building as well has figures along the top of the cornices, again a classical motif. In each of the panels, a central angel holds symbols relating to the subject of the panel, while further illustrative activities continue on either side; thus for Agriculture the angel, standing by a cornucopia, holds a sickle and a sheaf of corn; behind is a ploughing scene with on one side a ploughman with plough and a labourer with a hoe, and on the other side a ploughboy, a team of oxen and a tree. For Navigation the angel holds a rudder; behind is a boat with sailors punting, dropping anchor, hoisting a sail and taking soundings. And so the series goes on, with Science and Engineering, Cottage Industries, Commerce, the Arts, and so on, these all. These panels are by John Hancock. There was nothing novel about this use of the metope type in architectural sculpture. [222]
In 1970, the National Provincial Bank was merged into the National Westminster Bank, and in 1982 the former head office was converted into assembly rooms for the new bank — which then became known as the Gibson Hall.
John Hancock's high reliefs on the building |
C. Mabey's's high reliefs |
Photographs and captions by Robert Freidus. Commentary by Dennis T. Lanigan. Formatting by George P. Landow and Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
James, Thomas Beaumont. "John Hancock: Pre-Raphaelite Sculptor?" In Benedict Read and Joanna Barnes Eds. Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture: Nature and Imagination in British Sculpture, 1848-1914. London: Lund Humphries, 1991. 74.
"The National Provincial Bank of England." The Builder XXIII (December 23, 1865): 901-03.
Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982. 222, 224-25.
Ward-Jackson, Philip. Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Created 29 June 2011
Last modified (commentary added) 27 April 2024