Foyer Stairs Elevator

The foyer stairs and elevator at the Bankstown RSL share a central well at the front of the building, the stairs running in two flights either side of the lift shaft, the lift in the middle. The stair handrails are timber, varnished darker than the treads. The lift doors at the ground floor are stainless steel, scuffed at hand-height where decades of patrons pressed the call button. A row of original 1955 lighting fittings runs up the stair wall, brass-bodied with frosted glass shades. The carpet on the stairs is the same red-and-navy polka-dot pattern as the foyer bar nearby; the lift floor is a contrasting plain navy. The wall behind the lift doors carries a small directory board listing the floors and their functions.

The foyer stairs and elevator were the main vertical circulation of the 1955 clubhouse, carrying members up to the auditorium and function rooms above and down to the recreation wing in the basement. The lift handled the heavier traffic in the busy hours; the stairs were the regular path between floors. The Denis Phillips memorial painting from 1997, registered with the NSW War Memorials Register, hung beside the staircase at this location. The Bankstown RSL was demolished in March 2019. The memorial was salvaged ahead of the demolition; the staircase itself, the lift, and the lighting fittings came down with the rest of the foyer.