Building Name

Eagle Insurance Company Building Cross Street and King Street Manchester

Date
1903
Street
Cross Street
District/Town
Central, Manchester
County/Country
GMCA, England
Client
Eagle Insurance Company Building
Work
New Build
Contractor
William Southern and Sons

EAGLE INSURANCE COMPANY’S NEW PREMISES, MANCHESTER - The Eagle Insurance Co. are erecting new premises, as shown, by our view, in Cross street and King-street, Manchester. The building is being erected in Cullingworth stone from plinth to cornice. The crest of the company, an eagle, surmounts the central pediment in Cross-street. Green slates are to be used. A feature of the exterior is the continuous balcony running above the shop windows, and carrying a wrought-iron railing. There are fireproof floors throughout. The ground floor is being used for shops only, each of which has a basement connected with it. The first floor is to be chiefly occupied by the premises of the insurance company, and the remainder of that floor and the second and third floors are to be offices for letting. The architects for the building are Messrs Charles Heathcote and Sons, of Manchester; the contractors are Messrs. Southern & Sons, [Builder 1 March 1902 page 214]

The new Eagle Insurance Company’s building of which exterior and the ground floor plan we give reproductions has recently been erected at the corner of Cross and King Street, Manchester. The building has been carried out in white Cullingworth stone and green slates. The company occupies the first floor; the remainder of the building is set apart for letting both as shops and offices. The contractors for the work were Messrs Southern and Sons of Salford, and the architects Messrs Charles Heathcote and Sons of Manchester. [Architectural Review 1903 page 132]

One of the most successful of Heathcote's designs in a well-controlled Edwardian Baroque style with elaborate chimneys and pedimented dormers at roof level. A symmetrical elevation to Cross Street with a central entrance surmounted by an eagle perched on a semi-circular pediment. Corner sculptures. Stone from Cullingworth, Bingley Yorkshire.

Reference    Architectural Review July -December 1903 page 131 (plan) and page 132
Reference    Builder 7 March 1902 page 214