Market Square

This is now part of Nockolds premises which stretch along the west side of Market Square but was formerly an independent business unit. In 1874, it became a branch of Foster & Co, a bank based in Cambridge.  The premises was rebuilt in 1886, to a design by a Stortford-born architect John Slater and this was featured in “The Builder” in Jan 1888.

The first and second floor windows are more or less the same but the ground floor has undergone complete remodelling.  The door on the left-hand side appears to be part of the adjoining premises but is the bank entrance and leads to a side passage.

Look up to the gable end and you can see a small shield, with the letter “F” for Fosters and the date 1886.

John Slater was the son of John Slater, a local master tailor with premises on Windhill and prominent citizen involved in civil affairs.  Unusually for the time, Slater had obtained a BA degree before training as an architect.  He had a London-based practise but also maintained a local office in the early years of his career.  He served as Vice President of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Fosters moved in 1904 across Market Square to the southern end of the Corn Exchange building (until recently the Halifax Bank).  In 1912 the bank was absorbed by the Capital & Counties Bank.  Their coat of arms can still be seen above the entrance. The somewhat incongruous marble façade is probably associated with period when it was the office of the Herts and Essex Building Society.