District Bank Headquarters

The rebuilding of the District Bank’s headquarters has been satisfactorily completed. Mr Francis Jones, the architect had problems of peculiar difficulty to resolve. The old building, designed by Atkinson over a hundred years ago, was exactly symmetrical, having seven bays on each side of the ornate pavilion in the middle. In planning the large extension it was found desirable to take in Milk Street, which ran parallel to Spring Gardens, and build over it, and the corporation agreed that this should be done, provided that Marble Street was adequately widened. The widening of this street meant the destruction of the symmetry of the main façade and the uniting of the old work with the new at the most conspicuous part of the bank. Mr Jones resolved the problem by setting back the new front wall on the main front, and setting it back again in Marble Street, and by treating this quasi-tower differently on both faces. It is rusticated on the ground floor in alignment with the old front, but this is the only exact correspondence. The general view is of a classical front, missing four of the bays united by the angle to the long plain face in Marble Street. The whole of this Marble Street frontage of warm Longridge stone, scarcely ornamented at all in its middle portion and only lightly ornamented in the forward section, is one of the architectural pleasures of this part of the city, a quality it has acquired largely by its use of stone window mullions and the proportion of the openings. The front is an astonishing change from the fuss and ornament of the main front, but overcomes any painful discrepancy by its serenity. Sculpture has been used fittingly over the new doorways on Spring Gardens and Fountain Street. Mr M Miller has adorned the bank’s crest in the tympanum of the Spring Gardens entrance with Neptune’s crown and sheaves of wheat. This adornment is symbolic and has no proprietary sanction. At the other side of the building he has been able to make a freer use of the space and represents Mercury at one end and a shepherdess at the other.

A second problem was the difference in floor levels between the majestic proportions of the old building and the more economical rooms of the new. This puts the windows out of level. The situation has been solved as the picture shows. The old building has cleaned well, and its colour is not far from that of the Longridge stone. In enlarging the banking hall Mr Jones has simply followed the old classical plaster mouldings. The wholly new work is, however, different in character and is much more pleasing to the taste of these days. One can see from the banking hall into the charming administration hall, which is arranged much like a high courtyard. The walls are of rough acoustic plaster, pierced by long glass windows above and arched entrances below.

The main staircase in the new portion is lined with a delicate green-tinted marble, beige d’Evron, and the ironwork was done by Mr Maurice Singer. Several other marbles are used. In the vestibule, whose end wall is curved, the creamy coffee-coloured “pozzia imperiale” is used with its bands horizontal. A warm light coloured Botticine is used in the passages. The interiors of the important rooms have been designed with appropriate discretion. The directors meet in a room panelled in walnut, skilfully fitted by a Manchester firm. The fireplace is in dull stainless steel in a dark green marble frame. The ladies’ retiring room is bright yellow and chrome steel, and being high in the building takes the morning sun agreeably. The mechanical equipment is ingenious. Electric services pf all kinds are carried through conduits to each rom by the “key” system. The building is heated by the conditioning of the air which is driven into every room and by hot water radiation supplied from four automatic boilers. [Manchester Guardian 31 October 1936 page 10]

Reference    Builder 20 January 1933 Page 155
Reference    Manchester Guardian 31 October 1936 page 10
Reference    Manchester Guardian 31 October 1936 page 10 illustrations
Reference    Manchester Guardian 16 May 1938