Banks & Banking Halls
in Manchester City Centre

Banking in Manchester

By the 1830s, Manchester was a self-evidently growing metropolis with the needs of any great city in the making. In 1829 an Act of Parliament had created its own Police Commissioners (hitherto it had been part of the Salford force). The Reform Act of 1932 had created 2 Members of Parliament, and the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 had provided for the election of borough councillors, aldermen and magistrates. In 1838, due largely to reforming pressure groups led by Richard Cobden, Manchester was granted Municipal Borough status and included the districts of Chorlton-on-Medlock, Hulme, Ardwick, Beswick and Cheetham. It now had its own mayor and alderman.
The establishment of a 'proper' civic infrastructure, the increasing profitability of the textiles and cotton industries, and the large amounts of money that began to flow around the city prompted an explosion in the setting up of banking facilities.
Hitherto, cash had been transported by coach to London banks, guarded by men carrying blunderbusses, and prey to notorious highwaymen. By 1772, Arthur Heywood's Bank was already established in Manchester, and sometimes made use of this method of cash transportation - more normally Manchester trading depended on paper, IOUs and promissory notes.
However, the first 'true' bank, (holding its own reserves of coins and notes) was the Bank of Manchester, established in January 1829 on the corner of Brown Street and Market Street. Later, in 1834, The Manchester & Liverpool District Bank was established in Spring Gardens, others soon followed, and the area of Spring Gardens, Fountain Street and King Street became the banking centre of Manchester.

The Manchester Banks

The Former Bank of England Branch Building
King Street has been the banking centre of Manchester for the best part of 2 centuries, and some of its finest Victorian buildings are situated here. Number 82 has been through several transitions since its early days as the Bank of England Branch which was designed by Sir Charles Cockerell and built between 1845-46. Cockerell had been employed as chief architect by the Bank of England and was also commissioned to design branches in Liverpool and Bristol at that time. The top pediment of this imposing building, pierced by a so-called "lunette" window, spans three of the six huge attached columns of the facade. The entrance leads through a tunnel vault into a large domed banking hall.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

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The Midland Bank, King Street/Spring Gardens
This massive Art Deco bank, clad in white stone, is the major work of Sir Edward Lutyens in Manchester (his other being the Cenotaph in St Peter's Square). Lutyens had collaborated with engineers, Whinney, Son & Austen Hall in its construction between 1933-35, and surface carvings were local sculptor, J Ashton Floyd. Still known by most Mancunians as the Midland Bank Building, it is now actually a branch of HSBC (the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank of China). Successive irregular "stages" are set back or stepped in keeping with the ziggurat style popular in the period. The ground floor banking hall has large arched windows on all four sides.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

Number 10 Norfolk Street
The former Palatine Bank at the corner with Brown Street, was built by Briggs, Wolstenholme & Thornley in 1908 and is a veritable pot pourri of architectural detail: circular corner towers, giant colonnades, conical roofs, battlements and parapets - all built in Portland stone.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

Parrs Bank / The Athenaeum
The former Parrs bank building was designed by Charles Heathcote in 1902, is a superb example of Edwardian baroque with some increasingly fashionable art nouveau detailing, particularly in the wrought ironwork. Now a winebar-café known as the Athenaeum, it is in red sandstone with an imposing corner entrance topped with a dome. Probably one of Manchester's most opulent banking halls, with deep mahogany woodwork, green ceramic and marble walls, rich ceiling plasterwork, stained glass windows and elegant Ionic columns.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

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Prudential Assurance Building, King Street
Built between 1888-96 this distinctive red brick and terra cotta building is a fine example of the work of Alfred Waterhouse in Manchester (others of his buildings include Manchester Town Hall and Strangeways Prison). Successive modern refurbishments have somewhat destroyed the frontal simplicity, which are now shop fronts.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

Lloyd's Bank, King Street
Three of the four banks at the crossing of Cross Street and King Street are the work of Charles Heathcote & Sons, and the grand baroque Lloyd's Bank is one of the the most imposing. In a fine corner setting, this huge banking hall was completed in 1915 in highly ornamented Portland stone with exterior carvings and decorations by Earp, Hobbs & Miller. It remains a main Lloyd's Bank branch for the city.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

Eagle Star House, Cross Street
Another Charles Heathcote design, this modest Edwardian baroque building, completed in 1911, is possibly one of the prettiest buildings in the banking district. It occupies an island site with rounded corners.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

Number 25 St Ann's Square
Designed by J E Gregan in 1848, for Benjamin Heywood's Bank, and thought to be one of the finest examples of palazzo style architecture in Manchester City Centre, this building now belongs to the Royal Bank of Scotland and occupies the dominant corner position with St Ann's Street facing St Ann's Church.. The ground floor is rusticated and the windows are all arched, first floor windows having triangular pediments and the top floor with square windows in true Italianate style.

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Old Bank Chambers
Corner of Old Bank Street, adjacent to the Royal Exchange Building now Barclay's Bank, formerly the Manchester Liners Building, a Portland stone building designed by Harry S Fairhurst in 1925.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

Royal Bank of Scotland, Mosley Street
Set between York Street and Spring Gardens on Mosley Street, now the Royal Bank of Scotland, this fine building was designed by Edward Walters for the Manchester & Salford Bank in 1862. It was extended by Barker & Ellis in the 1880s with further modern developments by Fairhurst & Son in 1975.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

Portico Library / The Bank
Corner of Charlotte Street and Mosley Street, the old Portico Building, latterly the Bank café-wine bar, built in 1802-06 by Thomas Harrison. Manchester's oldest Greek revival building. Its elegant loggia with its classical triangular pediment and slender Ionic columns has dominated Mosely Street for nearly 2 centuries and has long been a centre for academics. The library is now separated upstairs by the inclusion of a later galleried first floor.
(See Also: "Who Built Manchester?").

See Also:

• The Coming of Canals
• The Railway Age
• Quarry Bank Mill
• Macclesfield Silk Museum
• Warehouses
• Mills
• Insurance & Commercial Buildings

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