Allied Irish Bank

Detached five-bay two-storey over basement Italianate palazzo-style bank building, built c.1855. Shallow hipped natural slate roof with overhanging eaves and modillioned cornice with guilloche decoration to frieze. Ashlar chimneystacks with cornices and clay chimney pots. Constructed of ashlar limestone, channelled on ground floor, with an ashlar string course at first floor sill level and projecting ashlar quoins to corners. Rock-faced limestone to basement. Round-headed openings in recessed arches to ground floor, square-headed openings with cut-stone architraves above. Central bay to first floor has cut-stone entablature. Timber sash windows throughout. Timber panelled door and plain fanlight to centre of ground floor set within round-headed recess. Main entrance approached across balastrated pedestrian bridge. Set back from main road with ashlar limestone wall and piers to street frontage, carpark to rear.

This very fine Italianate building is one of the best examples of its type in Ireland. It retains its original form, as well as its original fabric. This structure was originally built as The Provincial Bank and was designed by William G. Murray (1822-71), an eminent architect of his time. The construction of the bank attests to high quality stone masonry, particularly in the reserved cut-stone detailing, which contributes significantly to the architectural design quality of the composition. It is built in a very prominent site close to Shannon Bridge in what was the marketplace of Athlone from c.1500 until 1837, when the Market House/Thosel was demolished. Therefore, it is fitting that the design should echo the design of a traditional Georgian market house. It differs from most commercial buildings in Athlone in that it is freestanding and approached across a bridge from the pavement.