Eagle Star
Building - Mosley Street
The Eagle
Star Building (indicated by the arrow
above) occupied a block on Mosley Street,
between Spring Gardens and Booth Street,
for a very brief time. It was
designed by the architectural practice of
Cruickshank and Seward for the Royal
London Assurance company and erected in
1973.
The images above are
shown here with the permission of Dr.
Neil Clifton
Thirty two years later it was demolished to be replaced by the Cobbetts' Building.
Thirty two years later it was demolished to be replaced by the Cobbetts' Building.
People were rarely
indifferent about the Eagle Star Building. Opinions
tended to be extreme, at opposite ends of the scale.
The Manchester Modernist Society website says this about
it, "....this large
glass and concrete block never stood much of a chance,
replacing as it did the much loved 1841 Milne Building
that had received the highest praise from
Pevsner in his Buildings of England, declaring it ‘the
most startling warehouse of Manchester.’ hardly a good
introduction for any successor, even such an elegant
one by the renowned Manchester firm Cruikshank and
Seward." They, in turn, quote from
Phil Griffin's "archisnaps" who said this of the building,
"Incorporating
what must be one of the last built elements of
Manchester’s proposed elevated city centre pedestrian
deck, Eagle Star House contrasts with the scale and
verticality of its built context. A level of deck sits
above street shop frontage, above which are three
storeys of horizontally expressed offices and a rooftop
penthouse. End elevations express the section of the
scheme with circulation space being articulated by a
full height cleft running from deck level upwards. Clad
in smooth Portland stone, its Modernist credentials are
emphasised with a Corbusian stair meeting the street
corner at the northern end of the building."
However, others weren't so kind. Chris Mulcahy, of King Sturge, had a different view, "The worst blight on the street is undoubtedly Eagle Star House. Mosley Street has never been the busiest street in Manchester and Eagle Star House has been vacant for so long that if it alone was done it would change the whole complexion of the street."
I will leave you to decide if the Eagle Star Building's replacement, seen below and directly above, is an improvement.
However, others weren't so kind. Chris Mulcahy, of King Sturge, had a different view, "The worst blight on the street is undoubtedly Eagle Star House. Mosley Street has never been the busiest street in Manchester and Eagle Star House has been vacant for so long that if it alone was done it would change the whole complexion of the street."
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I will leave you to decide if the Eagle Star Building's replacement, seen below and directly above, is an improvement.