Former Union Bank of Manchester

Former Union Bank of Manchester

This bank building dates from 1913 and was designed by the Manchester, Bury and London architects Mould J D and S J. It is built in the Edwardian Baroque style and constructed of Catlow sandstone with a slate roof, leaded dome, and leaded stained glass.

The building occupies an irregular polygonal plan on a prominent corner site at the junction of Scotland Road and Leeds Road, with elevations facing both streets. It is built of banded rusticated masonry with a plain ashlar plinth and a first-floor plat band with projecting moulded string courses. The windows are of stone mullion construction with varying numbers of lights, mostly featuring original horned sliding sashes with multi-panes above a single pane. The building is topped by a variable pitched slate roof with two small gable end dormers flanking a pedimented gable end, and three tall ashlar chimney stacks with decorative clay pots rising above the parapet. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present throughout.

The corner elevation facing the junction of Scotland Road and Leeds Road features a three-bay canted entrance block with a central pedimented bay. The ground floor contains a portico with two ornate Ionic columns flanking the opening and an inset two-leaf ironwork gate. Above this sits a large shield applique decorated with volutes, a ship and a pair of shaking hands, with decorative cartouches either side. The first floor has a five-light bow oriel window with double-hung four-over-one sash windows, above a frieze originally carved with the bank name (now obscured by a modern bank sign). This is topped by a decorative curved stone Tudor balustrade which breaks into a half-storey open and bracketed pedimented gable. The gable contains a wide lunette window with elongated voussoirs and keystone. On either side of the central entrance bay is a single bay with a ground-floor bow window (now containing 21st-century three-quarter length steel frame windows of structural curved glass). These bays have air vents within chamfered stone openings in both the plinth and bow windows. The first floors feature three-light stone mullion windows with a central eight-over-one sash flanked by four-over-one sashes, above which runs an ashlar and square cut baluster parapet.

The narrow north-west return elevation has a flat-lintel entrance (formerly the clerks' entrance) with a 20th-century door. Above this is a leaded stained glass roundel set in a decorative stone surround, with carved words reading UNION BANK BUILDING below a volute scroll and two reliefs of cotton plants, reflecting the town's historical connection with cotton weaving. The first floor has a narrow four-over-one sash window with an ashlar capped parapet above.

The Leeds Road elevation comprises two bays. The ground floors contain Edwardian shop fronts with central entrances (now blocked) featuring two rectangular overlights of nine panes, flanked by large single-pane shop windows set on half-stall ashlar risers with sunburst glazing bar transom windows above. A cash machine has been inserted into the right shop window. The first floor of the right bay features a flat-roofed oriel bay window with fenestration identical to the side elevation bays, set back above a parapet wall with an ashlar end chimney stack.

A prominent square and coursed ashlar clock tower rises from the first floor of the Leeds Road elevation, comprising two stages with rusticated corner pilasters. The first stage contains a six-over-one sash window and a utilitarian access ladder. The second stage has a tall arched window with a moulded archivolt and elongated keystone, set on a string course to each face, with leaded diamond-glazed lights. Giant curved masonry brackets on either side of the windows support a square balcony designed with four projecting square-cut baluster balconettes. A rotunda with eight monumental Ionic columns supporting a moulded entablature rises from the balcony, topped by a lead-sheeted spherical clock tower dome. The dome features four clock faces with clock mechanisms facing each cardinal direction; the original weathervane finial has been lost.

Interior

The portico contains blocked early-20th-century entrances to the north and south (formerly the manager's and customer entrances), with a 21st-century flat-arched two-leaf door inserted into the east wall opening into the banking hall. The east entrance opens into an early-20th-century double-height octagonal banking hall approximately 10 metres in diameter, with eight pairs of composite columns equally spaced around the room. A fasciated entablature rests above the columns, with a moulded architrave decorated with acanthus and oval leaves, a plain frieze, and a cornice decorated with egg-and-dart moulding and large dentils. The circular ceiling features a circle and eight running quadrant panels of ornate fruit and foliate pre-cast fibrous plasterwork set around a central octagonal coved dome. The coved dome is decorated with plaster ribbing, a moulded and dentil architrave, and a central glass dome understood to survive above later boarding.

Small rooms formerly serving as the manager's room and vestibule, situated either side of the main west entrance, now contain modern banking interiors. The Chubb strong room and repository chamber are retained to the east end of the banking hall, and it is understood that the recessed basement staircase remains in situ, along with the original basement floor plan beneath. The secondary entrance on Scotland Road (formerly the clerks' entrance) provides access to a small vestibule and a main staircase leading to first-floor rooms. It is unclear whether original first-floor features remain. The Edwardian shop front facing Leeds Road has been largely refitted, with the rear shop wall removed and an access door cut into the south end of the banking hall.