Electricity Junction Box, Tib Street

An electricity junction box of the early C20, manufactured by Hardy and Padmore of Worcester.

MATERIALS: cast-iron.

DESCRIPTION: standing close to the junction of Tib Street with Market Street at the heart of Manchester’s commercial core, in the Smithfield Conservation Area.

The box stands around four feet high and 12 inches square and has a low pyramidal cap with castellated edges above a moulded cornice, supported at each corner by an inward-scrolled corbel. Each of the north and south sides is a door with a moulded surround, two decorative strap hinges at the right-hand side, and a Jacobean-style geometric strapwork relief design in the centre. Each of the east and west sides has moulded surround and a relief plaque featuring the crest of the City of Manchester. The east side however is largely obscured by an adjacent associated modern feeder pillar.