Bartons Building Including Barton Arcade

Barton’s Building, including Barton Arcade, is a block of shops and offices built in 1871 by Corbett, Raby, and Sawyer. It was restored in the late 20th century. The structure features cast-iron and glass with a facing of sandstone ashlar, slate, and glass roofs. It is a large, almost rectangular block intersected by an east-west arcade and an L-shaped arcade on the south side, designed in an eclectic style.

The building has four storeys and an attic, with a long nine-bay facade facing Deansgate, which is divided horizontally by a balustraded balcony. The ground and first floors are treated as a single architectural storey, with the bays separated by narrow piers topped with foliated capitals. The third and seventh bays feature full-height entrances with pendent semi-circular arches made of cast-iron open-work, while the other bays have 20th-century shop fronts at the ground floor and arcaded three-light windows above, supported by slender shafts and enriched spandrels.

The upper floors are adorned with bracketed cornices and sash windows with stilted surrounds, except for the bays above the entrances, which have pilasters, coupled round-headed windows on the fourth floor, and square turrets above, featuring heavy bracketed cornices and pierced parapets. The outer ranges have chimneys, and the central range has round-headed dormers. The rear of the building, facing Barton Square, is constructed in a Crystal Palace style with cast-iron and glass, topped with a round-headed dome and cupola.

Inside, the building showcases a fine example of Victorian shop-and-office arcading, spanning four storeys with balconies on two levels that curve around the corners and intersections. These balconies are furnished with bracketed ornamental cast-iron balustrades and mahogany handrails, and the vaulted glazed roof rises to domes over the north and south ends of the axial arcade.