North East Statues

The relief doors on the old National Provincial Bank building (on Albert Road) have somehow survived Middlesbrough’s periodic heritage culls since the bank opened in early 1939. You may know the bank building better as Bar Cuda or Barracuda, but it’ll always be Bar Zantia to me.

Almost certainly the work of architect W.F.C. Holden (who made a similar, silver-coated set at the Coventry branch), these huge bronze panels show designs from various ancient coins (there’s even a nice explanatory panel on the wall next to them). A nod to the enduring solidity of coinage and finance, where nothing can ever go wrong.

Holden himself was somewhat of a maverick who once suggested encasing London’s Tower Bridge in a glass frame during the Blitz, even going so far as to sketch out plans from this eventuality. He thought the glass might somehow protect the bridge from German bombs. A unique idea at least, if not a practical one.

I’ve read in some sources that the relief doors were moved from the old National Provincial Bank building over the border (which still stands near the Transporter Bridge), but I recently found a North-Eastern Gazette article from January 27th, 1939, which describes the doors as new to that period, noting that they had been created “in consultation with leading authorities of the British Museum”.

They seem to have caused a bit of a stir upon their installation (and before the symbolism of the panels was explained), with the article noting that “even learned scholars have been stumped” by their meaning.

Perhaps the fact that the building has hosted a variety of bars since the bank closed shop has helped to protect these wonderful panels; the doors are normally propped open (often with door staff in attendance). A case of out of sight, out of mind.

I had no idea about the similar doors in Coventry until reading about it on the excellent Hidden Teesside blog – http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/…/national-provincial…/

Photos by myself and Grace Redpath.