Refuge Assurance Building
| Palace Hotel | |
|---|---|
Oxford Street façade with clock tower in 2011
|
|
| Alternative names | Refuge Assurance Building |
| General information | |
| Status | Grade II* |
| Type | Originally offices for Refuge Assurance; Hotel since 1989 |
| Architectural style | Eclectic Baroque[1] |
| Location | Oxford Street, Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Current tenants | Palace Hotel, Principal Hayley Group |
| Opened | 1895 |
| Renovated | 1912, 1932 |
| Client | Refuge Assurance Company |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Alfred Waterhouse, Paul Waterhouse, Stanley Birkett |
| Website | |
| http://www.palacehotelmanchestercity.co.uk/ | |
The Palace Hotel, previously the Refuge Assurance Building or Refuge Building, stands at the corner of Oxford Street and Whitworth Street in Manchester, England.
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.[2] The inside was of Burmantofts faience and glazed brick. The ground floor was one enormous open business hall.[3]
It was extended, with a striking 217-foot (66 m) tower, along Oxford Street by his son Paul Waterhouse in 1910–1912.[2] It was further extended along Whitworth Street by Stanley Birkett in 1932.[3]
After occupying the building as offices for nearly a century, the Refuge Assurance Company departed the building for a new purpose site in the grounds of Fulshaw Hall, Cheshire on Friday 6 November 1987. The Refuge Assurance company had discussed converting the building into a new home for the Hallé Orchestra with one of Manchester's cultural patrons Sir Bob Scott for over a year. The £3 million funding required for the project did not materialise and the Halle subsequently moved from the Free Trade Hall to the new Bridgewater Hall upon opening in 1996.[4]
Local architecture critic John Parkinson-Bailey noted that "one of the most prestiguous and expensive buildings in Manchester lay forlorn and empty except for a caretaker and the ghost on its staircase".[4] It was converted to a hotel by Richard Newman in 1996 at a cost of £7 million, and is now the Palace Hotel, owned and operated by the Principal Hayley Group.[5] The hotel is purported to be haunted.[6]
References
- Citations
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- Bibliography
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Refuge Assurance Building. |
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