Additions to the bank building included the Gothic styled porch and external timber stairway to the rear entry.
In 1974 the building was modified for use as a wine bar and restaurant; the office partitioning was removed to create open plan dining areas, and kitchens were installed.
The building is two storied, with seven rooms, of sandstone with slate roofing, in a Gothic style widely used by the ES&A Bank and Wardell.
[1] The former ES&A Bank at 135 George Street has cultural significance for its aesthetic, historic, social and research potential values.
It shows evidence of the significant human activities of commerce, land tenure and leisure, and is associated with several significant historical events, phases and persons including; early colonial settlement, 1880s boom economy, the bank crash of 1893, the outbreak of bubonic plague of 1900, the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Green Bans movement of the 1960s/70s, and noted architect William Wardell.
The building is significant as it demonstrates Wardell's individual interpretation of the Gothic Revival style at a time when eclecticism and historicist approach to design was prominent.
[1] The Rocks branch of the English Scottish and Australian Bank was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 May 2002 having satisfied the following criteria.
The site is historically representative at the Local level because it has attributed typical of the particular philosophies and activities of colonial era "town planning" in Sydney.
The site is associated with several significant figures including Surgeon Jamison, Governor Macquarie, the building itself was designed by prominent architect William Wardell.
[1] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.
[1][4]: 29 The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
The building has much potential to reveal details of Wardell's design such as materials, methods and spatial relationships by investigation of the interior.
The facade, basic form and safe demonstrate to the public its former use as a rare Gothic Revival style bank.
[1][4]: 29 The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
[1][4]: 28–29 This Wikipedia article was originally based on English Scottish & Australian Chartered Bank (former) - Amo Roma Restaurant, entry number 1544 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 14 October 2018.