The Martins Bank Building is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and former bank located in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Built as the head office of the now defunct

Martins Bank Martins Bank was a London private bank, trading for much of its time under the symbol of “The Grasshopper”, that could trace its origins back to the London goldsmiths. Martins agreed to its acquisition by the Bank of Liverpool in 1918. The Ba ...

, the seven storey

classical style Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...

building has been described as one of the country's best examples of an interwar classical building. Designed by

Herbert James Rowse Herbert James Rowse (10 May 1887 – 22 March 1963) was an English architect. Born in Liverpool and a student of Charles Reilly at the Liverpool University School of Architecture, Rowse opened an architectural practice in the city. Although h ...

, the bank building opened in 1932 as a replacement for the

Bank of Liverpool Building A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

which was proving unable to cope with city's increased demand for service. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the bulk of Britain's gold reserves was moved to the bank's vault as part of

Operation Fish Operation Fish was the World War II evacuation of British wealth from the UK to Canada. It was the biggest known movement of wealth in history. Background In September 1939, the British government decreed that all people living in the UK had to ...

. After Martins Bank merged with

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

in 1969, the absorbed bank continued to operate up until 2009 when the branch was closed. Since then the building has remained empty, though there are currently plans to refurbish the building for office space.

History

In 1925, a decision for a new bank to be built in the city was made to relive demand on the

which was proving unable to cope. Properties across from the current bank was bought for £220,000 and local architect

was tasked with designing the new building which was set to serve as

's home office. After five years of construction the building was completed and on 24 October 1932 opened to the public. In 1940, under threat of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

invasion, 280 tons of the United Kingdom's

gold reserves A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of v ...

were transported to Liverpool and stored within the bank's vaults ready to be shipped to Canada for safekeeping. The successful operation, code named

, was overseen by the bank's Chief Inspector, Donald Devonport Lynch FCIB (1893–1982). In 1965 the

Governor of the Bank of England The governor of the Bank of England is the most senior position in the Bank of England. It is nominally a civil service post, but the appointment tends to be from within the bank, with the incumbent grooming their successor. The governor of the Ba ...

Lord Cromer, negotiated a deal whereby Martins Bank was merged with

and Lloyds and in 1969 ceased to operate under its original name. The building became a branch of

, retaining some of its original staff and operated for some 40 years before the branch closed in 2009. Since being vacated by

, plans were announced in 2017 for the unused building to be transformed into the city's first five star hotel. The £50 million plan would have seen the former bank converted into a hotel with over 138 bedrooms a restaurant and spa. However, no work was started on the scheme and by May 2018 it was announced that the building's owners, Starwood Capital, had sold the building as part of a package of 14 properties to a French property company, Foncière des Régions. Immediately after the announcement, 13 of the 14 properties were leased to

InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the F ...

but Martins Bank building was not included in the lease, leading to speculation that it would no longer be turned into a hotel. The building later changed hands and was bought by Kinrise who announced plans in August 2021 that they were planning to undertake a multi-million pound refurbishment to allow the building to once again be used as offices.

Gallery

File:Martins Bank Building 3.jpg, Main Entrance File:Martins Bank Building 1.jpg, Side Entrance File:Martins Bank relief.jpg, Slave Relief

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline Grade II* listed buildings in Liverpool Commercial buildings completed in 1932 Unused buildings in Liverpool