12, John Dalton Street

We may mention the large block of shops and offices just completed in John Dalton Street, for the perpetration of which we believe Messrs Speakman and Charlesworth must be answerable. Many of the Manchester architects seem to know no medium between dry classicality and the wildest vagaries of Gothic out-Gothicised.  We are always glad to see attempts to do something different with brick in an artistic manner; but it is quite another to see a building covered over with large panels in recessed and projecting brickwork; and, as the second storey of this building, a ragged mass of double-recessed brick arches over the windows, the outer arch segmental, the inner circular, all springing from a stone shaft of disproportionate lightness. The application of panelling to the main piers of brick, which run up nearly the whole height of the building between the groups of windows, is most unhappy since it gives an appearance of lightness and weakness to the very part which is constructively the most important, and which ought consequently to appear heaviest; but as one of those main piers comes right over the crown of the semi-circular arched doorway, it may be as well that it has been made to look a little less crushing than it otherwise would have done. There is also an angle doorway with two shafts supporting immense chimney-looking corbels projecting towards each other at right angles, the underside of each forming a segment of a circle while above they support an oblique lintel, forming the head of the entrance. The underside of each corbel is covered with a sort of pie- crust foliage, quite out of place in a situation where every line ought to indicate strength and bearing capability; in short, taken as a whole, this doorway is one of the worst architectural features we have seen for a long time. [Manchester Guardian 8 October 1868 page 7]

A brick and stone building in John Dalton‑street is tolerably good in design, and the openings are artistically treated; but the angle doorway is very unsatisfactory, having an awkward, ungainly look, and the slated turret roof we think quite unnecessary to the composition. In other respects this building is good in design, and effective. [The Critic 15 June 1872 Page 259]

Reference    City Architect (Stewart Buildings of Manchester)
Reference    Manchester Guardian 8 October 1868 page 7 – from the Builder
Reference    The Critic 15 June 1872 Page 259