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King Street, Manchester

Street in Manchester, England

Looking down King Street towards the River Irwell

King Street is one of the most important thoroughfares of Manchester city centre, England. For much of the 20th century it was the centre of the north-west banking industry but it has become progressively dominated by upmarket retail instead of large banks.

History

King Street began in the 18th century at the Spring Gardens end when the Jacobite party in the town created James's Square and to the west of it a fine street. Beyond what is now Cross Street it was much narrower and one 18th-century building remains (a former District Bank). Further west beyond Deansgate is King Street West on a different alignment. By the 1970s, there was a clear demarcation between the eastern section of mainly financial and office buildings and the narrower section to the west a mostly upmarket shopping street (later pedestrianised). Subsequently, the eastern section had the monumental National Westminster Bank offices built at no. 55 and some years later further changes increasingly brought more upmarket retail. In 2008, the grand Midland Bank building of Edwin Lutyens was vacated by HSBC Bank.

Old Town Hall

Manchester's original civic administration (a commission of police) was housed in the Police Office on King Street from 1772; it was near the junction with Deansgate and Police Street is so called because of it. It was replaced by the first Town Hall, to accommodate the growing local government and its civic assembly rooms. The Town Hall, also located on King Street at the corner of Cross Street, was designed by Francis Goodwin and constructed during 1822–25, much of it by David Bellhouse. The building was designed in the Grecian style and Goodwin was strongly influenced by his patron John Soane. As the size and wealth of the city grew, largely as a result of the textile industry, its administration outstripped the existing facilities and a new building was proposed. The King Street building was subsequently occupied by a public library and then Lloyds Bank. The façade was removed to Heaton Park in 1912, when the current building was erected on the site (53 King Street).

Notable buildings

Many notable buildings survive and are preserved in a conservation area. On King Street there are 18 buildings listed at Grade II, one at Grade II* and one at Grade I; on King Street West is one at Grade II and on South King Street nearby one more at Grade II.

Alongside its landmark Edwardian and Victorian structures, King Street also contains a series of more modest commercial buildings whose architectural value lies in their collective contribution to the street’s formal character rather than individual distinction.

Address	Image	Year	Grade	Notes
15–17 King Street	[[File:15-17 King Street, Manchester.jpg	100px	centre]]	1902
19 King Street	[[File:19 King Street, Manchester.jpg	60px	centre]]
28 King Street	[[File:28 King Street.jpg	100px	centre]]
Old Exchange,
29–31 King Street		1897
30 King Street	[[File:30 King Street and 19 South King Street.jpg	100px	centre]]
31–33 King Street West		1840
33 King Street	[[File:33 King Street.jpg	centre	100px]]
35–37 King Street	[[File:35-37 King Street.jpg	centre	100px]]	1736	Georgian house, became Loyd Entwisle's bank in 1788.
Continued under various names until incorporated into
the National Westminster Bank; in the 1990s it closed
and was converted into a shop.
41 South King Street	[[File:41 South King Street, Manchester.jpg	60px	centre]]
48 King Street	[[File:48 King Street, Manchester, Listed Building.jpg	100px	centre]]
Former Lloyds Bank,
53 King Street	[[File:Lloyds Bank Manchester.jpg	100px	centre]]	1913–15	Later Lloyds TSB, now a restaurant.
Designed by Charles Heathcote.
54–56 King Street	[[File:55 King Street.jpg	100px	centre]]
62 King Street	[[File:62 King Street, Manchester.jpg	60px	centre]]	1874
Pall Mall Court,
67 King Street	[[File:Pall Mall Court, Manchester.jpg	60px	centre]]	1969
Former Northern Rock
Building Society,
74 King Street	[[File:Former Northern Rock Building, Manchester.jpg	100px	centre]]	1896	Designed by Heathcote and Rawle.
Prudential Assurance Office,
76–80 King Street	[[File:Prudential Assurance Office.jpg	centre	100px]]	1888	Designed by Alfred Waterhouse.
Manchester Reform Club,
81 King Street	[[File:Former Reform Club, Spring Gardens, Manchester 4.JPG	100px	centre]]	1870	Designed by Edward Salomons.
Former Bank of England,
82 King Street	[[File:Bank of England building, Manchester.jpg	100px	centre]]	1846	Designed by C.R. Cockerell.
84–86 King Street				Former National and Provincial Building Society.
Ship Canal House,
88–96 King Street	[[File:Ship Canal House.jpg	100px	centre]]	1927	Headquarters of the Manchester Ship Canal.
Designed by Harry S. Fairhurst.
Atlas Chambers,
98 King Street	[[File:Atlas House, Manchester.jpg	100px	centre]]	1929	Designed by Fairhurst and Michael Waterhouse.
100 King Street	[[File:100 King Street Manchester.jpg	100px	centre]]	1929	Formerly the Midland Bank (HSBC).
Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Shopping area

King Street (along with Bridge Street) is considered Manchester's most upmarket shopping area; it has included the Manchester branches of Hermès, Whistles, Gant, Karen Millen, King Street Grooming, Emporio Armani, DKNY, Diesel, Timberland, Calvin Klein Jeans, Polo Ralph Lauren, Max Mara, T. M. Lewin, Jaeger, Cecil Gee, Agent Provocateur, Mulberry, Thomas Pink, Crombie. (However some of these are on Bridge Street to the south of King Street West.)

The part west of Cross Street was already a shopping street in the early 20th century.

Roger Oldham's 1906 Manchester Alphabet booklet includes the following lines: And there's King Street South And also King Street West, They each of them begin with K, I know which I like the best-- The one in which the cake shop is-- Let's go inside and rest.}}

References

Bradshaw, L. D. (1985) ''Origins of Street Names in the City Centre of Manchester''. Radcliffe: Neil Richardson; pp. 39-40
City Planning Department (1985) ''Manchester's Architectural Heritage''. Manchester: City Council
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
Nicholls, Robert (2004) ''Curiosities of Greater Manchester''. Stroud: Sutton; {{ISBN. 0-7509-3661-4; p. 188
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
{{National Heritage List for England
Robinson, Jon. (2021-11-18). "The 25 major North West commercial property deals you shouldn't miss".
Krieger, Eric (1991) ''Manchester in Early Picture Postcards''. Tottington: Printwise Publications {{ISBN. 1-872226-04-3; p. 11

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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