Internal Alterations: Brooks' Bank King Street, Manchester

The banking firm of Messrs Cunliffe Brooks & Company was founded about 1800, when Roger Cunliffe and William Brooks, cotton manufacturers of Blackburn or Whalley added primitive banking facilities as an adjunct to their normal business. In Manchester Samuel Brooks established a branch in High Street, later moving to Market Street, but by 1847, the Market Street building had become inadequate and the bank therefore purchased the former Bank of England premises in King Street. It had been intended to demolish this building and erect a new bank on the site but a disastrous fire in the Market Street premises forced the bank to move into the King Street building as it stood. Some remodelling of the interior took place in 1853 with further alterations in the 1860s although there were no changes to the exterior of the building and the facade remained unchanged from the days when it was a private house in St James Place. However, the top-lit banking hall was sumptuous with its walls lined with Sienna marble, gilt columns supporting the roof and bronze division screens.

We had, however, an opportunity of seeing the inside of an important banking-house, which has been partially remodelled in a better architectural style by Mr. Truefitt. The design of this had been engraved in one of the illustrated journals, and we found our previous expectations of its effect justified in the result. [The Ecclesiologist Vol 15 1857. An Ecclesiological Day in Manchester.]

Reference    Manchester Faces & Places. Pages 132/3, 157
Reference    The Ecclesiologist Vol 15 1857. An Ecclesiological Day in Manchester.