Geograph - photograph every grid square

The history of Corn Street is one of money, banking and commerce. Although the industry is rather different to the past, some relics of former visions remain.

This is the exterior of what is today a Harbour Hotel. Back in the nineteenth century, banking became a rapidly-expanding sector and many new companies sprang up. Indeed, the history of banking in Bristol, and Britain at large, has many examples of people losing fortunes as the new banks rose and fell in fluctuating times. One such start-up was the West of England and South Wales Bank, choosing to open a new building here in the heart of the old town. It carried on for many years, although it was latterly a branch of Lloyd's Bank until 2014.

The magnificent building was designed by Bristol architects Bruce Gingell and T.R. Lysaght in 1854. Gingell in particular was regarded as a progressive architect, going on to design the General Hospital shortly after. The exterior is garnished by intricate friezes by John Thomas (1813–1862). On the lower floor are crests of Newport, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, and Cardiff (where the bank had branches); above are ‘elements and sources of wealth’; above them are cherubs depicting the many aspects and scope of trade: receiving, paying, storing, coining money, engraving and printing, and trading with Africa and America.

Grade II* listed.