St James Buildings

St James Buildings is a commercial building located on Oxford Street in Manchester, constructed in 1912 by Clegg, Fryer and Penman. It features a steel frame with a facade made of Portland stone and a green slated mansard roof. The building has a very large rectangular plan and is designed in the Neo-Baroque style, standing eight storeys tall with dormers.

The facade is symmetrical, consisting of three bays on each end and six in the middle, with the center and ends slightly projecting forward. The ground to the second floors are treated as rustic, showcasing channelled masonry. The ground and first floors are designed with arcaded round-headed openings, supported by massive polished granite plinths at the piers, with shops at the ground floor and lunettes at the first floor, featuring triple keystones above the arches.

The central and end sections have balustraded balconies above recessed second-floor windows. The upper levels are adorned with giant pedimented aedicules at the sixth and seventh floors, framed by paired Ionic pilasters. The central section features projected canted bay windows at the first level and open pediments, with a triangular pediment in the center and segmental pediments at the ends. A square tower with a stepped Baroque spire crowns the center.

The main entrance is located in the central bay, marked by a massive round-headed archway. The second-floor windows of the main ranges are embellished with aedicules, small balconies, engaged columns, and alternating triangular and segmental pediments. The other floors have two smaller windows per bay, all with architraves. Dormer windows are present on the seventh floor, and there are moulded chimney stacks. The rear and interior of the building were not inspected.