Midland (now HSBC) Bank, Aberdare

The grand Palazzo ex  Midland Bank with National School in foreground of about the same period

Following on from the previous post of the old NatWest bank in Cardiff, this is another bank built in the palazzo style, but this time in Aberdare. The proportions are similar with three stories and five sets of windows on each floor and was built in the same year, 1857. Unlike the Cardiff bank,  this building has a façade of imported stone with Bath stone ashlar and grey Newbridge stone.

This bank was designed by Bristol architect, William Gingell who co-incidentally worked with T R Lysaght, the architect who designed the Cardiff building.

Rock faced dressed stone on the façade of the old Midland Bank

Signs of the times

Old street sign

Looking around Aberdare its actually quite hard to find older styles of lettering. Apart from words actually carved into buildings or tomb stones, street signs are one of the few remnants of what would have been at one time ubiquitous.

These appear to be cast signs and are still quite common apart from, ironically,  the conservation area of the town where they must have been removed some 20 years ago. The typography here is of varied line width and characterised by serifs with brackets. The gaps betwen the letters are not entirely regular.

Pressed steel sign

 

This sign still has something of the shape of the older ones with its indented corners and raised border. The letters are however all sans serif without any variation in line width or spacing.

Modern sign
 

This modern sign, I'm not sure what its made of, is free standing but has an interesting typeface with very fine angled serifs and subtle variation in line thickness.

Bench decoration in Commercial Street
 

The most modern lettering in the town (in that they were only put up a week ago) belongs to these benches which are each decorated with 2 letters, together spelling out the phrase, ABERDARE QUEEN    THE VALLEYS. (The bench with the OF is missing at present) The letters are all upper case and decorated top and bottom with wavy lines. They have bracketted serifs and appear very similar to Times New Roman, which you can probably find a version of on your computer.

A bit like this    E

Windows

This house was highlighted in the Aberdare townscape survey as having extravagant render detailing and being an example of the late nineteenth century trend towards middle class homes with bay windows. http://cadw.wales.gov.uk/docs/cadw/publications/urban_character_aberdare_EN.pdf
Unfortunately over zealous repairs to the bay window roof led to the collapse of the bay and its replacement with a plastic one.

This is a perfect example of the gradual loss of the small details that help make buildings and towns distinctive. Each change is small and relatively insignificant but the small changes add up so that soon it becomes impossible to find original features like doors and windows. Interestingly the  bays and other detailing on this terrace are actually made from cast stone. They were probably bought from a catalogue as there are identical bays in nearby Abernant.