Description

MANCHESTER

SJ8398SE KING STREET
698-1/27/197 (South side)
No.98
Atlas Chambers

GV II

Insurance company office, now banking hall and offices. 1929,
by Michael Waterhouse (grandson of Alfred Waterhouse), for the
Atlas Assurance Company. Steel-framed with cladding of
Portland stone (roof not visible). Narrow rectangular plan on
corner site, with chamfered corner. C20 classical style. A
6-storey 4-window facade plus 3-window attic, consisting of a
2-storey banking hall with a cornice, then 3 regular storeys
(the upper 2 with shallow giant pilasters) with another
cornice, and the top floor and attic treated as a 2-storey
3-window pedimented penthouse with flanking 1-storey wings.
The banking hall has a plate-glass screen with a bronze
doorway set in the centre and surmounted by a bronze Atlas
with golden globe, a bronze plaque on the corner and a
cartouche above this, and its left return side (to Brown
Street) has a similar plate-glass screen with fluted Doric
columns distyle in antis. The upper floors have very regular
fenestration (matching that of Ship Canal House to the right)
consisting of tilting casement windows with margin panes and
plain surrounds, the one-window corner and 6-window return
side matching the front (but the attic storey set back at this
side). Forms group with Ship Canal House (with which it is
easily confused at first sight; q.v.).

Listing NGR: SJ8398798247

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26492382

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
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  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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