Grand banks given new lives as museums, homes and guesthouses after regional branches close
By Kathleen Ferguson and Donal Sheil
Behind the doors of an old bank in the historical village of Carcoar, the old cedar teller still stands and the vault door remains.
But where the safe should be, a line of bright tin robots stand and stare.
The cheques, money bags, and banknotes are long gone from the Commercial Banking Company building, which has been transformed into the 20th Century Toy Museum.
It was one of three banks in Carcoar, in central-west New South Wales, and just one of many grand buildings that have taken on new lives as branches continue to close in droves across regional Australia.
"It's just an interesting thing about, I suppose, the illusion of our forefathers that what they were building was to last forever and the buildings might, but their purposes won't," said the museum's owner Warwick Powell.
From axe-murder site to home
The former City Bank across the road from the museum is serving a less quirky new purpose as a home. But it has a far darker past.
In 1893, it was the site of a double murder in which the bank manager and his wife's friend were killed with an axe by Edwin 'Bertie' Glasson who was trying to rob the bank.
Owner Andrew Baulch said there was no bad juju in the triple-brick home despite the horror that played out.
He said converting the old bank after it closed as an agency in 1989 into a cosy and welcoming house was not a task for the faint-hearted, especially when the bathroom, and former strongroom, had 17-inch-thick walls.
The vault door is now casually resting up against a pillar among a variety of materials in Mr Baulch's back shed.
"When we arrived, the Chubb safe door was flat on the front verandah and had been there for about 50 years," Mr Baulch said.
Homes the new norm for old banks
For Tommy Jeffs in nearby Canowindra, a community that has been fighting to claw back a banking service after it lost its last branch in 2017, living in a bank was not out of the norm.
"I've got five or six friends and we are all living in banks, so we all make comparisons between the safes and things like that," Mr Jeffs said.
The former Sydney designer runs a guesthouse at his former Bank of New South Wales building, which is 104 years old.
He said he had a field day restoring the building to its original "grace and charm".
Renowned architect's work lives on
At Berry, in southern New South Wales, the former ES&A (English, Scottish and Australian) Bank now protects another item of value — the district's history.
The building was designed in 1884 by William Wardell, the architect of St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.
Only two of the five banks designed in the Scottish Baronial style by Mr Wardell have survived.
June Robson from the Berry Historical Society said the building had some interesting security features.
"This bank has a mirror over the entrance to the vault, which contains the safe," Ms Robson said.
"A mounted policeman could walk along and look through the window and look through the mirror and see whether the bank manager had left the door open."
'Odd drop in' for cash at old bank
As artists, framers and guesthouse owners, Jenny and Richard Beach are far from bankers, but that has not stopped people from coming into their home when short of cash on their country adventures.
The couple live and operate their business out of the former Bank of New South Wales building in the popular village of Millthorpe, between Orange and Bathurst.
The pair said it had been a collective effort of all its owners to preserve its history.
"I think, whoever has been here, they do hold the place quite dear to their heart and they are very, almost, proud of what it has been and what is become over the years," Ms Beach said.
She said the old, sturdy bank has been a labour of love, but one that brought them many pleasures.
"We just love sitting on the verandah and watching the world go by," Ms Beach said.