The council intended to sell the vacant land in separate lots, but Chester architect John Douglas bought the entire length of the east side of the street and planned to create a series of buildings in a unified architectural design.

[2] Twelve years after Douglas' death, a commemorative plaque was placed on the St Werburgh Street side of the bank by some of his former pupils and assistants.

The Eastgate Street face of the bank has a four-light mullioned and transomed window with a basket arch on the ground floor.

[3] Douglas' biographer Edward Hubbard considered that in this piece of work, Chester's "half-timber revival reached its very apogee.

"[7] It is "undoubtedly Douglas's greatest work in Chester and the high point of the Victorian black and white revival in the city.