View Full Version : Midland Bank (HSBC), Manchester


kids
June 30th, 2005, 04:00 PM
Manchester Midland Bank, King Street

Height - 46m
Floors - 13
Built - 1935
Architect - Sir Edwin Lutyens

Info:

The MIDLAND BANK is the King of King Street, the major work in Manchester of Sir Edwin Lutyens in collaboration with Whinney, Son & Austen Hall, who took care of the practical side. Carving was by J. Ashton Floyd of Manchester. Designed 1928, erected 1933-5. It is a nearly square block and treated as such, with the upper motifs identical on all four sides. The two angle porches are in King Street, and the entrances all have pilasters which die away and disappear, as at his Midland Bank on Poultry in London. The elevation steps back and contracts and the tops of the centre motifs have French pavilion roofs. Sheer walls with simple openings contrast with the texture of the lower entrances and the upper stages. The proportions are ingeniously calculated, as Lutyens in his later years adored to do. The top stage is two-thirds of the stage from the obelisks to the next set-back, and that middle stage is two-thirds of the bottom stage. Also the walls above the first floor sill have a very slight batter: 1 in. in every 11 ft (2.5cm in every 3.35m). The banking hall could not be sky lit, so Lutyens gave it arcading on all four sides and wooden galleries much as in Wren churches. The galleries have large arched windows to let enough light in. The Delhi order, with bells, which Lutyens devised for the Viceroy’s House in New Delhi (1913-29), is used.

Pictures:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/richardjamesbrowning/hsbc3.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/richardjamesbrowning/Manchester_Midland_Bank.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/richardjamesbrowning/hsbc2.jpg

Aerial View:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/richardjamesbrowning/aerial.jpg

kids
June 30th, 2005, 04:13 PM
I give it 8/10, one of the finest examples of 20th century architecture in Manchester.

Damon
June 30th, 2005, 04:18 PM
8 from me too. I love this building a lot.

Smoggie_Si
June 30th, 2005, 05:26 PM
A bit oddly proportioned, but very elegant nonetheless! 7.5, rounded down to 7, cos I'm harsh like that.

JDRS
June 30th, 2005, 06:54 PM
8/10, a bit dirty at the moment but I like the material and the design isn't bad.

Medo
June 30th, 2005, 08:22 PM
nice, 7

EarlyBird
June 30th, 2005, 11:43 PM
I gave it an 8. Not my favourite "white" building in Manc and some parts of it are lacking in terms of detailing, but it has impact. For some reason it seems to shout out "I'm the offices of a large, historic bank", and not because of the HSBC sign.

kids
July 1st, 2005, 12:08 AM
Three more pictures:

Tucked away on the skyline (In the middle)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/richardjamesbrowning/HSBCSKYLINE.jpg
Some police outside:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/richardjamesbrowning/ambulance.jpg
close up:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/richardjamesbrowning/2004-10-09_Midland_Bank2C_back.jpg

Damon
July 1st, 2005, 11:18 AM
Just to explain why I like it:

I love its 'blockiness', the way it stacks up like a gleaming lego set.

I like those huge scooped out arches (as seen in the third pic in the above post).

I like the smaller windows dotted around the smooth facade and the fact that they're set back deep in the stone.

It does look great in its location at the top of King Street, and while I do agree that in a couple of the pics it looks slightly oddly proportioned, this doesn't really come across when you see it in the flesh.

It's a long way from being the grandest bank building I've seen, but it has a solidity and simplicity that I find very attractive.

di Livio
July 1st, 2005, 09:34 PM
Beautiful.
My favourite building in Manchester.
10/10

I'm pleasantly surprised to learn it's a Lutyens design. Thanks for the information.

Elizabeth Kinoke
July 2nd, 2005, 02:42 AM
IMO don't like this, no way the best building in Manc, it looks awkward and quite similar to several other mediocre buildings of time, looks to me like a private built house by someone that had all the money to spend and interfered too much with the architect and builders? 3. I'm not budging so don't reply to this. (I might be harsh tonight)

caw123
July 2nd, 2005, 01:25 PM
It's alright, not as nice as Ship Canal House next door though. It's a bit plain, but still, a nice 'art moderne' building.

Some older images

1965 - filthy
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=47911

1944
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=49175

1935
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=56533

1930 - construction
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=66975

1958
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=66977

Construction again
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=56513

1959
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=5124

clarky
July 2nd, 2005, 05:07 PM
Not bad 6/10

oscar9
July 2nd, 2005, 06:29 PM
8/10 Nice building

ROYAL BLUE
July 6th, 2005, 04:11 PM
7/10 for me

Accura4Matalan
July 13th, 2005, 01:37 PM
8/10

Zaqattaq
August 14th, 2005, 10:13 AM
One of my favourite buildings 10/10

Hotbird_Saudia
May 16th, 2006, 06:38 PM
6/10. Not ugly, but boring.

El_Greco
May 16th, 2006, 06:52 PM
nice 9/10

henry hill
August 20th, 2009, 04:31 PM
8/10 nice building from 1935 :okay:

ferge
August 23rd, 2009, 04:26 PM
if only it was marginally taller.. say another 2 or 3 floors in the mid section, keeping the bottom and top sections in the same proportions. still, a beautiful building that hold's its own.. If it had been taller though, we could have had a taller Chancery and King st too :|

PeteVincent82
September 17th, 2009, 07:04 PM
bloody gorgeous building. in my top 3 manc. i think ferge is right it would have better being a few stories taller