Registry Office

The Registry Office, located at 9 Grimshaw Street and including 12 Nicholas Street, is a bank building from 1864 designed by William Waddington for the Manchester and County Bank. It has been altered over time. The structure is made of coursed squared sandstone with a slate roof and features an eclectic architectural style with some Gothic details.

The building has a rectangular plan and stands three storeys high over cellars, with three wide bays. It has a moulded plinth, rusticated quoins, a plain frieze, and a moulded gutter cornice. The ground floor features a segmental-headed doorway on the left, framed by a pilastered architrave and a moulded cornice. There are also triple and two coupled pairs of recessed sash windows, all adorned with polished pink granite colonnettes that have elaborately carved sandstone capitals depicting different foliage and birds. These windows have moulded arched heads, hollow spandrels, and prominent cornices that extend continuously over the first and second windows.

On the upper floors, there are mullioned multiple-light windows, with the first floor having three-light windows and the second floor featuring three, four, and three-light windows, all with altered glazing. The building has two ridge chimneys. The right-hand return wall, which faces 12 Nicholas Street, includes a corner doorway with a heavily-bracketed cornice and two windows similar to those at the front, all beneath a continuous cornice. The left return wall has a doorway and multiple-light windows in a simpler style. The interior has not been inspected. This building represents William Waddington's first built design.