The Palace Hotel, formerly the Refuge Assurance Building.
The first phase of this Grade II listed red brick and terracotta building was designed for the Refuge Assurance Company by Alfred Waterhouse and built 1891–1895. The inside was of Burmantofts faience pottery and glazed brick. The ground floor was one enormous open business hall.
It was extended, with a striking 217-foot (66 m) tower, along Oxford Street by his son Paul Waterhouse in 1910–1912. It was further extended along Whitworth Street by Stanley Birkett in 1932.
The Refuge Assurance Company occupied the building until 1987. Although the Refuge Assurance company had discussed turning the building into a new home for The Hallé Orchestra, the funding required for the project did not materialise. It was converted to a hotel by Richard Newman in 1996, and is now the Palace Hotel.
It's a magnificent building. I love that clock tower!
ReplyDeleteI live not all that far away from Manchester, but I've never seen it like I see it in your pictures.
ReplyDeleteFriko, I hope that is a positive thing! For me it's just a case of trying to look at my adopted home city through the eyes of a visitor, looking up at the rooftops and in through the windows, taking a few minutes each day to explore a new area and hopefully capture something interesting about it, as a photo,
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