[1] Sydney architect and consultant engineering firm John and Herwald Kirkpatrick, designers of a number of early Commonwealth Bank buildings including the head office in Sydney, the Melbourne, Canberra and London offices, were commissioned to draw up plans for a new building in Townsville.

At that time he was also designing the Dalgety & Company Building completed in Sturt Street, Townsville in December 1924.

The builders had installed an electric dynamo to facilitate the easier handling and hauling of mixed concrete to the first floor level.

A flight of stairs in the vestibule led to an upstairs landing which accommodated a cleaner's room and additional male and female lavatories at the rear.

[1] On 2 February 1924 the Townsville Evening Star reported on the "... near completion of the most attractive and up to date premises in the city ... the building ... is the architecture of Messers.

These new features included ventilation and lighting, and ornate plaster work on the ceilings and substantial pillars in the banking chamber.

A Montgomerie Neilsen Oxidising nonseptic toilet system was installed with a large brick tank under the building.

The February opening date makes this the first country branch to occupy its own, purpose built office.

[1] During World War II the Commonwealth Bank, including the Townsville Branch, became heavily involved with Commonwealth War Bonds and other forms of government fund raising activities, as well as acting as local agents for the meat and clothes rationing authorities.

Dilapidated counters and fittings required replacement, lighting needed upgrading, painting of the interior was necessary and new coverings for the floors.

In 1957 new plans were drawn up for extensive alterations and additions, including a new Teller line, installation of fluorescent lighting, painting, linoleum tiles to walls and floor, new staff amenities and storage area, new entrance doors and removal of the portico over the front door.

[1] During the late 1940s and 1950s the Commonwealth Bank expanded its activities Australia wide, opening hundreds of branches and agencies to cater for the increase and spread of population accompanying Australia's great post war migration influx, and reflecting the buoyant national economy of the 1950s.

[1] The Townsville City Council sold the building to Aranda Park Pty Ltd in 1990 but continued to lease the property until the Library moved in 2003.

A plinth, originally plastered but now veneered in grey granite, to window sill height runs across the width of the building interrupted by two doorways.

The main doorway was originally flanked by two plain pilasters with entablature over that have been removed and the adjoining columns completed.

The window frames either side of the main doorway incorporate an arched transom between the casements and smaller upper panes and sashes.

A classical cornice across the building at roof level projects forward over the three central bays and has pairs of dentils above the columns.

Over the cornice is a panelled parapet forming a low simple pediment centrally with a tapered flagpole fixed behind.

[1] Behind the street frontages the first floor of the building is set back from the northern boundary to gain natural light.

The construction of this major 1923 building reflects the significant role Townsville, as the leading Australian country branch for over sixty years, played in the establishment and regional development of the Commonwealth Bank.

The former Commonwealth Bank, built in 1923 using reinforced concrete, is one of the first multi storey buildings constructed in Townsville utilising this early twentieth century innovative technique.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.

The former Commonwealth Bank, Townsville has a special association with the work of Sydney architect and consultant engineering firm John & Herwald Kirkpatrick and with Townsville architect Walter Hunt who was known for his innovative work in designing reinforced concrete buildings.