Former Refuge Assurance Company Offices

The building is a former insurance company office, constructed in 1891 by Alfred Waterhouse, with extensions in 1910 and 1912 by his son, Paul Waterhouse, and further additions in the 1930s. It is a large and ornate eclectic design featuring French Renaissance and Baroque elements. The structure is based on an irregular plan incorporating a square corner block at Whitworth Street, a triangular block to the south added in 1910, a tower linking the two, and a rectangular block extending to the east of the original Whitworth Street range in the 1930s.

The exterior is steel-framed and clad in red brick with terracotta dressings of deep brown and buff, and a granite base to the tower. The building is four storeys high with basements and attics. The original corner block has six-bay facades to both streets. The tower is flanked by projecting bays, with a three-bay porch at the front. Elaborate brick piers, enriched bands between floors, undulating parapets, and tiered, shaped gables are prominent features, as is a tiered octagonal turret with a domed roof at the Whitworth Street corner, and a tall, square clock tower with a cornice and Baroque cupola. Closely-spaced cross-windows are found on the first three floors, with coupled 2-light mullioned windows on the top floor, all incorporating elaborate terracotta surrounds including twisted columns, pierced aprons, and segmental pediments at the second floor. The corner element includes a round-headed doorway with an ornate terracotta surround, a "toy-sized fort" above, and mullioned windows tiered through four floors.

The main entrance is at the base of the tower, within a single-storey, three-bay porch constructed from white granite, exhibiting Baroque-style detailing with a round-headed arch framed by Tuscan columns, a segmental pediment, Ionic columns, swagged bulls-eye windows, and balustraded parapets. Inside the porch is an enclosed forecourt surrounded by arcades and colonnades in buff terracotta, with doorways and niches in a Baroque style. The quality of further interior spaces is believed to be similar, though they remain uninspected. The building is a very conspicuous landmark and understood to be a prime example of the "Manchester style" of late 19th-century commercial architecture.