Whilst taking photos for our new touch screen project, one of the items we came across was a money box for the Northampton Town & County Building Society.
The Society was formed in 1848 and first opened an office in Rushden in the Waverley Hotel in 1922, followed by an office in Newton Road in 1923. The business grew and the branch needed more space so in 1929 they moved to a new building at 83 High Street. The architect was Mr. Frank Allen, A.R.I.B.A. and the builder was William Packwood & Son, with woodwork by Whittington & Tomlin.
The Waverley Hotel
The Building Society on the left of the picture
The Rushden Echo described the building as “one of a series of branch offices of similar design which the society is establishing, another at Luton being in the course of erection. The building is a one-storey erection of good height. The front elevation is faced with Darley Dale stone, finished with square sunk joints, the top portion being a simple but effective entablature carrying the society’s full name in bronze lettering. The whole is surmounted by a parapet having a type of pediment of modern design as a central feature. An attractive part of the building is the entrance doorway with its semi-circular arch and carved keystone, and the solid double doors and tracery fanlight which are in mahogany.”
The branch was opened on 27 March 1929 by Ald. S. S. Campion, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Society, and following the ceremony lunch was served at the Queen Victoria Hotel.
The Queen Victoria Hotel
Another money box
The Society has changed its name several times, becoming Nationwide in 1970.
The building has changed but Nationwide still stands at 83 High Street, Rushden