Atlas House on King Street was built by Michael Waterhouse, grandson of the architect of Manchester Town Hall, Alfred Waterhouse.  The name of the building and the statue of Atlas above the impressive front door are a clue to the original function of the building.


On the corner of the building is a stone crest for the Manchester Assurance Company.   This company was one of the developmental stages of the insurance business conducted in Manchester.  In the 19th Century The Manchester Fire Office was established to offer fire and life insurance.  The company's life insurance business was sold to the Pelican Life Insurance Company in 1846.  In the following years aspects of their insurance business were sold to other companies until in 1904 the Atlas Assurance Company Ltd purchased some remaining elements of the business. 



Atlas merged with Royal Exchange Assurance in 1959. They, in turn, merged with Guardian Assurance in 1968


As you can see from the image above the Atlas Building was once home to Emporio Armarni, but in 2010 they moved to a new purpose built home in Spinningfield Square.