In the mid 1960s, Martins is aware not only of the importance of branded products, but also of how the exterior and interior of branches can sell the bank’s image. No expense is spared in achieving a look that is welcoming, uncluttered, and above all business-like. Martins Bank Magazine is always keen to show off the new branches, and the materials used showing often staggering expenditure, as in this description of PRESTON BRANCH in 1965: “The entrance porch is of clear glass but the windows are of hand-made tinted glass set in aluminium frames, the counter is of teak, faced with Sicilian marble, and the walls of the main banking office are of wide elm boarding with one large panel of silver grey marble. The management rooms are lined with cedar of Lebanon against a maple background and hot water coils in the ceilings warm all the office areas. The staff kitchen has built-in teak wall cupboards with magnetised catches” Designing Martins is a serious affair, and the premises department engages some of the world’s finest architects to effect the transformation of old premises or the building of new ones.
x The hand woven tapestry frieze at the end of the banking hall at BOSTON, Lincolnshire. Floodlit at night and symbolising in needlepoint work embroidered on canvas, the frieze features the sea, the Pilgrim Fathers, merchant trading, agriculture and the 'Boston stump'.
x The counter at Newbury Branch was designed to reflect the local area with a series of wooden carved panels depicting trades and crafts:
WEAVING				FARMING
BREWING				CHASING
Works of Art
Newbury Branch is a good example of the Bank commissioning a piece of art work that reflected the local area. Three such works were created by Philippa Threlfall for the branches at Bristol Clifton, Cheltenham High Street, and Gloucester. Philippa’s appeal for information about the fate of her ceramic masterpieces is featured on our MOST WANTED page, but we wanted to do justice to her work on this page with large images, and to also explain the rather strange outcome of Martins’ having commissioned Philippa in the first place…
BRISTOL, CLIFTON BRANCH, WHITELADIES ROAD The design depicts various building and landmarks in Bristol
CHELTENHAM, HIGH STREET BRANCH This unusual take on Martins’ grasshopper logo came just before the merger with Barclays
GLOUCESTER, 9A SOUTHGATE STREET BRANCH Gloucester Cathedral, viewable from both sides: shatter-proof glass prevented hands from penetrating the fretted ceramic. X X Images © Philippa Threlfall 1966 to date www.philippathrelfall.com X
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Philippa gained more than job satisfaction from her commission with Martins, as she recently explained to us:
“I was only in my early twenties when I started making ceramic murals. Some publicity in a trade magazine (The Cement and Concrete Quarterly) attracted the eye of the architect that Martins was using for their new branch in Clifton.  He wrote to me and asked if I could do a panel for the bank.  I designed and made it and came down from London  to erect it, staying the night with the same architect.  He asked his brother along to supper to meet me, because he and I  had known each other several years ago.  This meeting lead to our re-connecting and getting married about a year later, in September 1967.  The premises manager from Martins sent a telegram on the wedding day saying: CONGRATULATIONS. WE AT MARTINS ALWAYS LIKE TO PROVIDE THE COMPLETE SERVICE FOR OUR CLIENTS !
in fibreglass…
since the last war, through research and experiment, the uses of fibreglass have developed to such an extent that there are now companies engaged solely in the manufacture of fibreglass products. Such a company is Carleton Russell Limited whose works at Loughborough we visited recently. The company makes fibreglass signs and displays and has produced several of our Bank signs. At the time of our visit the finishing touches were being made to the huge sign, seen in the colour photograph above, which now gleams upon customers entering our branch at Digbeth, Birmingham. Why fibreglass? Two of its advantages, lightness and flexibility, have much to recommend it as the material for a wall sign, either inside or outside a building. The Coats of Arms carved in stone which once surmounted the two entrances to our Leeds office have now given way to fibre-glass reproductions. Weather resistance is another valuable property of these signs and Hove branch, for example, exposed to coastal weather, is saved frequent cleaning and retouching costs by having its external sign made from fibreglass.
			As the name suggests, glass fibre is one of the basic materials used in producing fibreglass. The other is a polyester resin, a plastic substance which bonds the glass fibre into a strong but resilient laminate. To follow the stages of producing a sign from start to finish, our tour of the works began at the modeller's room. Here a model is prepared from the design, which may be merely a blown up photograph, the modeller working with clay which is kept damp to prevent hardening. In this way, once the mould has been made from the model, the clay can be used again. The material for the mould is usually liquid rubber which is poured over the model but if many reproductions are to be made from the same mould, a more robust material—plaster, wood or even fibreglass itself—is used. Once the mould has hardened it is filled with the polyester resin to provide a 'gel coat' or smooth, outer coating. This sets in about 30 minutes when another coat of resin is applied and the glass fibre, in narrow, woven strips like bandages, is pressed into it. After hardening, the reproduction is taken from the mould and examined for flaws which can be rectified by careful application of resin.
When all imperfections have been eliminated the reproduction is left in a curing room for between 24 and 30 hours at a temperature of 140-150 degrees Fahrenheit, this curing process being essential for the complete binding of the glass fibre and resin. For a hard, lasting finish the sign is then sprayed with acrylic paints and finished by hand. We could test for ourselves the lightness and flexibility of the finished product and we were told of its weather resistance, but just how strong fibreglass is we were anxious to discover. We took a piece of smooth fibreglass measuring about eight inches by six inches and no more than ⅛” thick and tried to snap it. Our efforts succeeded only in flexing it slightly. We then watched the same piece struck forcibly by a golf club which produced a slight dent—on one side only! That could be put right, we were told, by 'filling-in' with fibreglass. It is scarcely surprising that a material with such advantages—produced at highly competitive prices too—is continually finding new markets and we left Loughborough wondering where fibreglass might be popping up next. One thing seems certain: it will not replace steel in the strong room grill.
Do not adjust your set…
Some of Britain’s top architects were commissioned to design the Bank’s new branches. If you went to see the Manager of London Wigmore Street Branch in 1968, you could have been forgiven for thinking you were in the middle of a psychedelic dream… This design by the renowned and colourful architect Ernö Goldfinger (yes, REALLY) is the manager’s room window. At first glance, (perhaps before total confusion ensues), it is hard to pick out anything that indicates an office environment. As you become more accustomed to the light, however, a telephone and a blotting pad stand out against the eccentricity of this design. When asked if people passed comment about the “James Bond” connection with his name, Mr Goldfinger was pleased to report that following the film, he at least no longer has to REPEAT it!		Taking a “trip” - to the manager’s office
© gut informiert 2007 to date

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