ListedBuildings: A number of listed former bank buildings in Dublin city centre now have new uses that also respect their architectural integrity, writes Emma Cullinan

Greek and Roman temples were tough glamorous buildings designed to offer a show of strength and power so it's no surprise that banks took on this form of architecture to display their seriousness, power and ability to protect your money. Behind these thick stone walls, in brick-lined vaults below the ground, your money was safe in a safe.

Now, with much money being a mere blip on a computer screen and with strong boxes and elaborate security systems, banks can be much more flimsy looking.

With various old bank buildings being vacated, other businesses have been keen to snap up these extraordinary buildings.

Around two years ago, two city centre pubs based themselves in former banks and now Habitat has installed its contemporary furniture in the vast 18th century Bank of Ireland banking hall.

The pubs are both in smaller buildings than Habitat and have created atmospheric interiors, retaining the subdued cream, brown, and soft tangy red paint colours of old in the panels between ornate plasterwork. Marble columns amid those seated in the bar add a luxurious touch to bar life.

Being listed buildings, these have retained a real sense of history and in the Bank on College Green, owned by Charlie Chawke and managed by his son David, it's worth taking a trip to the toilets in the basement.

The stair and basement walls are lined in glazed cream bricks, some imprinted with safe doors. There are actual safes down here too, which were too big to take out of the building, and the galley kitchen doors are made from thick metal bars, akin to prison- cell doors, as this was a former vault. The men's toilets also used to be a vault - with actual vaulted ceilings - and large metal handles on the walls used to operate the vents. Upstairs the former manager's office, clad in classic timber panelling, is used as a private diningroom.

The renovation of this building, by Cantrell and Crowley, included cleaning up the plasterwork, installing chandeliers and replacing mosaic floor tiles that were crushed by bank machines, and extending the mezzanine floor. Historical elements throughout tell the story of the bank: the stained glass roof bears the initials BB, which stands for Belfast Banking, one of the bank's previous names.

The owners have been told by an academic that there is a bust of Queen Victoria behind a plaster panel on the wall, but they have been forbidden, by conservation authorities, to remove the plasterwork to have a look.

On one piece of plasterwork there is the bank's motto Protanto quid retrieum, which the Bank bar has taken on as its own saying: "What can we do for you".

While much has been kept as it was, an electronic tickertape board above the bar ties the centuries together, a contemporary reminder of a financial past.

The Grand Central bar on O'Connell Street has also retained its original character and this building has seen a bit of history too. Just before it became a bank it was damaged during the Easter Rising and the repair bill for £2,515, settled by the authorities, can still be seen today.

While the two pubs have created a cosy atmosphere with ornate fittings and soft colours, Habitat has formed a bright retail space. The vast Victorian banking hall along with its columns has been painted white, with mullions at the apex of the dome and between panels of rooftop glass, picked out in black.

Two companies worked on the design for Habitat, Douglas Wallace and Mellett Architects, run by Irish-born, Paris-based Patrick Mellett, while Donnelly Turpin Architects created the glass façade on Suffolk Street for the landlord of the building.

So the entrance at College Green is through a classic Victorian façade while you emerge onto Suffolk Street through a 21st century one and a key challenge of the project was to link the old building with the newer one. This was done both decoratively and structurally with Mellett saying that one of the biggest challenges was to combine the structural grids of the two buildings.

From the mainly white bank side of Habitat you climb a short flight of stairs through a contemporary archway into the two-storey rear section, which is painted black. As Adrian Lambe, project director from Douglas Wallace, says: "We introduced the notion of the 'Black Box' as a new way of focusing customers' minds on the product and not just the environment."

While the walls, ceilings and floors are shadowed into the background, room sets and products are highlighted against white panels that slide along the walls to where the displays are. So now that much of our banking has gone into cyberspace, other sections of the service industry are making good use of these substantial buildings and Mellett sees scope for more of them.

"The re-use of the College Green side for retail has breathed new life into the building and should be seen as a starting block for other similar projects. Through this project we are signalling that by simple and respectful gestures, it is possible to salute past architectural triumphs while embracing a stunning and exciting future."