New Street / Ramsden Street: Prudential Assurance Offices (brick and tera-cota)

Plans deposited: 5 sheets (a)Floor Plans. (b)Section & Elevation. (c)Block Plan. (d)Revised Plan of Basement (5 June 1899). (e)Revised Drainage Plan (25 May 1899).

Drainage = 6" Stoneware Pipes & 4" Soil Pipes

Water Supply = Town Main

Floor Level = Ground Floor 18in Above Pavement level of New Street

Foundations inspected = 3 May 1899 / 13 May 1899

Damp Course inspected = 25 May 1899

Drainage inspected = 5 July 1901

Final Certificate = 5 July 1901

English Heritage description:

1897-8. Architect Alfred Waterhouse. Red brick and moulded terracotta. Pink marble plinth. Pitched slate roof. 3 storeys and attic. Moulded stringcourse above ground floor. Moulded eaves cornice. Large gabled bays break forward slightly on south side, and (diagonally placed) on corner: small gabled bay on west side, over doorway. Ground floor modern, apart from east bay of south front which has one arched window with moulded surround, and north bay of west front which contains doorway. This is of pink marble up to impost level, has paired columns taking moulded pointed arch with gable over. Door has traceried fanlight and moulded transom with "Prudential Assurance" in good contemporary lettering. All windows are casements with mullions and transoms (windows in gables have mullions only), in moulded oblong frames (windows in 2 large gables have moulded round-arched frames). Some windows are vertically linked with panelled zones in between. West front has statue in canopied niche, once taken on a buttress. South front has "Prudential Assurance Buildings" in good contemporary lettering.

(Extract from English Heritage listed buildings service, record number 402871) http://lbonline.english-heritage.org.uk/BuildingDetailsForm.aspx?id=402871&search=y

Architect Alfred Waterhouse also designed Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in London