The Galway Vindicator of October 3, 1866, contained the following report … “For some four or five years now, The National Bank has had in its possession a plot of ground on the east side of Eyre Square directly opposite Forster Street and adjacent to the Provincial Bank, which was purchased from the proprietor Mr Levingston for £600, for the purpose of erecting thereon a new building, the present bank being in St Augustine Street which was considered too backward for the improving business of the concern in Galway.
"The ground belonging to the directors consisted of a frontage of 141 feet long with a breadth of 115 feet. It is east of the southeast limits of the ancient town and is edificed with good lofty plain buildings; but in consequence of its interior being enclosed by an ugly dwarfish gap-interrupted stone wall, and unadorned with either lawn or shrub or statuary, and unqualifiedly abandoned to the melee of promenading, marketing, raree-show keeping and children’s gaming, it has a warm and almost rueful appearance. Exactly twelve months ago the building which we are now noticing and which is now nearing completion, was commenced. The style might be described as an elaborate combination of Ionic and Doric. The building is three storeys high with a frontage of 51 feet and a breadth of 72 feet. The height from the basement to the parapet is 44 feet.
"The first floor consists of one principal room designed for the bank, with a private office for the manager, a voucher’s room, a strong room for the close, water-closets for clerks. To the rere is the kitchen and all the appurtenances of a first-class dwelling house. The second floor consists of parlour, drawing room, study, storeroom &c. The upper storey is devoted to an elegant suite of bed-room apartments etc. The prospect from the rooms is most cheerful, commanding as they do, a view of Eyre Square, of the Railway Hotel, and Forster Street.
"It is entirely built of Galway limestone, lined in the most substantial manner with brick. This branch was built of the principal ornamentations of the town. The cost of the building will, we understand, be about £3,000.”
The National Bank was established in London in 1835. Daniel O’Connell was its first chairman and much of its success was due to its association with him. In fact, it was known for a long time as ‘The Liberator’s Bank’. In the early years, the branches of the National Bank were run as subsidiary local banks, half owned locally and half by the London parent company, which retained supreme control with a veto over local directors. This system proved to be cumbersome and inefficient and eventually, all of the branches were amalgamated with the parent company.
The original title of the bank was the National Bank of Ireland, but this was shortened in 1856 to the National Bank in order to expand business to London. It had already successfully expanded in Ireland, being the main banking supplier to the south and west of the country in 1845. For some reason, they never opened many branches in the north of Ireland. By the time, they merged with the Bank of Ireland in 1966, there were 135 branches throughout the country.
By then, this was a very busy branch and the ground floor was expanded into a larger banking area for the public. Unusually for such an institution, they hosted occasional art exhibitions. For whatever reason, they decided to consolidate their business and close down this branch and put it up for sale in 2002.
We have two different angles of photographs of the building (which was built on the site of an old market place ), each taken shortly after it was built. They are both dated c1870 and we show them courtesy of the National Library.
