Equitable Building corner of St Ann’s Square Manchester

EQUITABLE ASSURANCE OFFICES, MANCHESTER. —We learn that an important and costly granite contract is now on the point of completion by Messrs. James Wright & Sons, Royal Granite Works, Aberdeen, consisting of a main doorway and piers for the new premises of the Equitable Assurance Company, Manchester. The doorway is of elaborate design. Constructed of grey Rubislaw granite, it rises to a height of 15 ft. from the level of the ground. The two jambs are fully 8 ft. high, and, particularly on the front, are finished with sweeping lines of deeply-graven mouldings. On the impost or lintel, the main surface is formed by mouldings into an oblong panel, and the smaller impost is surmounted at each end by an intricately- designed pilaster, fully 3 ft. 6 in. high, consisting of a base, shaft, cornice, and a ball finial. Each of these parts is marked by deep, sharply-cut mouldings. In the centre of the space between the pilasters is a circular panel, sunk about 6 in., and surrounded by mouldings of the most intricate character. The whole is surmounted by a cornice of rich design. The whole of the work, mouldings included, is polished. The doorway is flanked on both sides by a pier of red Peterhead granite, also 15 ft. high. Each pier consists of a bottom-plinth, a shaft— with centre band, - and a massive ball-corbel, surmounted by a moulded cornice, — the continuation of the cornice over the doorway. There are nineteen of these piers, and there are about 2,500 cubic feet of granite in the job. The piers, like the stones of the doorway, are polished on all the ex- posed surfaces. The architects are Messrs. W. Waddington & Sons, of Burnley.

Reference           Builder 19 November 1892 page 403