{"id":528335,"date":"2026-04-13T10:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/528335\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:34:08","slug":"lewes-hsbc-bank-designed-by-sir-edwin-lutyens-could-be-converted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/528335\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewes HSBC bank designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens could be converted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  A planning application to turn the empty bank at 63 High Street into a three-bedroom home has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theargus.co.uk\/news\/25297137.hove-office-building-approved-conversion-flats\/?utm_medium=M&amp;utm_source=Martina&amp;Campaign=subeditor_added_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">submitted by Matsim Properties Ltd<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The plans show a three-storey home, with a bedroom, en-suite and bike and bin stores on the lower ground floor.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>The site of former HSBC (Image: Google Maps)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The scheme says it will keep the building\u2019s historic features, and it is believed to have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theargus.co.uk\/news\/10538161.mansion-in-thakeham-can-be-yours-for-55m\/?utm_medium=M&amp;utm_source=Martina&amp;Campaign=subeditor_added_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">designed by renowned architect Sir Edwin Lutyens<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Born in 1869, he designed many English country houses, war memorials and public buildings, and played an instrumental role in the construction of New Dehli in India.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He was described by biographer Christopher Hussey as being &#8220;widely held to be our greatest architect since Wren if not, as many maintained, his superior&#8221; during his lifetime and by architectural historian Gavin Stamp as &#8220;surely the greatest British architect of the twentieth (or of any other) century&#8221;.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Features of the building including the fibrous plaster ceiling, wood panelling, marble and parquet floors would be kept.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theargus.co.uk\/news\/23160927.hsbc-set-close-four-branches-sussex-next-year\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HSBC closed in June 2023<\/a> and the building was put up for commercial rent, but drew little interest.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  HSBC said branch visits had fallen by 65 per cent over five years and that 97.5 per cent of transactions were carried out online.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The planning report says: \u201cThe property\u2019s limited frontage, poor accessibility, and unsuitability for modern retail or wholly office use render it commercially unviable.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A marketing report said the layout put firms off, citing poor visibility from the street, no commercial bin store and problems meeting modern fire rules.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Because the building has only one entrance, the report says a single home is the only viable way to keep the old banking hall features.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It sits in the Lewes Conservation Area.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The plan needs South Downs National Park Authority approval and the applicant says it would protect the building\u2019s heritage and bring more housing into the town centre.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Matsim Properties Ltd says the conversion would give the empty building a long-term use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A planning application to turn the empty bank at 63 High Street into a three-bedroom home has been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-528335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}