Barton Arcade is a Victorian

shopping arcade A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, located between

Deansgate Deansgate is a main road (part of the A56) through Manchester City Centre, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mile ...

and St Ann's Square. Barton Arcade, Manchester 1

The arcade was listed as a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on the 25 January 1972. The listing includes the "block of shops (Barton's Building) and offices enclosing the arcades." It was constructed by Corbett, Raby and Sawyer in 1871. Hartwell describes the Barton's Building facade as "utterly ignorant.. the ground floor

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

must be seen to be believed."Hartwell 2001, p 244 The arcade, however, is "a gorgeous glass and iron shopping arcade with glass domes..., the best example of this type of cast-iron and glass arcade anywhere in the country." The entrance to the arcade on St Ann's Square incorporates a large,

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

and

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

wall. The two entrances on Deansgate are hidden behind the Barton Building. The building is of "four storeys with an attic, a long nine-bay facade to Deansgate, divided in half horizontally by a balustraded balcony". The structure is composed of cast iron and glass. The iron work was supplied by the

Saracen Foundry The Saracen Foundry, Possilpark, Glasgow c.1890 The Saracen Foundry was the better-known name for the Possilpark, Glasgow–based foundry company W MacFarlane & Co. Ltd, founded and owned by Walter MacFarlane. MacFarlane's was the most importan ...

in Glasgow. The building was one of the first to be built on the newly widened Deansgate. The arcade was restored in the 1980s. The original shop fronts and decorative floor no longer exist. The building sustained damage and the dome was shattered during the

Manchester Blitz The Manchester Blitz (also known as the Christmas Blitz) was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the German ''Luftwaffe''. It was one of three major raids on ...

in December 1940. In 1957 the Barton Arcade was sold privately for a sum "in the region of £200,000" for 12 shops and three floors of offices and showrooms. It was bought by an insurance company and Town and City Properties Ltd. The total net floor area was 55,000 sq ft and in 1957 the rent roll was about £17,000 a year. It is named after its original developer.OUR PROPERTY MARKET CORRESPONDENT. "Shops Arcade Sold For £200,000." Times ondon, England9 Dec. 1957: 5

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References

* {{Authority control Grade II* listed buildings in Manchester Commercial buildings completed in 1871 Shopping centres in Manchester Shopping arcades in England Grade II* listed retail buildings Shopping malls established in 1871

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