Pall Mall -
King Street Pall Mall Court is a
Grade II listed building built in 1969 to a design
by the architectural practice of Brett &
Pollen. The Manchester Modernists web site
says this about it, "Pall Mall is a
complicated set of interconnected buildings and
annexes, its two 5 storey annexes and 12 storey
tower cleverly weaving themselves in and around
King Street, Marsden Street, and Brown
Street. Its bronzed glass windows are
distinctive with their boxy columns set out from
the sheer wall and were designed to reflect the
buildings around it and mediate somewhat against
its weight and bulk on the street. The tall
service tower occupies the top of the sloped site,
luxurious and luminous with deep blue-bronze
mosaic cladding." They sum up their
view be adding, "Pall Mall is more than a
building or mere office block, it is a citadel in
bronze and iridescent blue, which can be navigated
and explored from 360 degrees and a variety of
angles and vantage points."
 Once home to Sun
Alliance, Pall Mall Court is today a serviced
office complex which describes itself as follows,
"This office space is in a vibrant area
opposite the Armani building, surrounded by
designer outlets, cafes, bars and restaurants.
Located on the ground, first and second floors,
the office space has been completely refurbished
throughout to have a contemporary look and feel.
The building is unbranded so when your clients
visit they won't know you are in a serviced
office. You'll get a fully furnished office with
the latest IT and telecoms, and our team will
take your calls when you are in and out, handle
your mail and faxes and anything else you need."
The Armarni part of that claim is no longer true
since Armarni left Atlas House and moved to
Spinningfield but Brown's Brasserie has recently
moved into the old Parr's Bank and Liam
Gallagher's clothing store, "Pretty Green", has
moved into the ground floor of the adjacent Reform
Club.
    ****************** Pall Mall Court
replaced an earlier building on the site owned by
the London Assurance Company, indicated in the
aerial image below, dated 1953.
 The map below,
my version of one from 1886, shows the layout of
the building indicated by the red arrow above.
 If you click on the
link below you can see the building in 1956.
Pall Mall Court site in 1956 The building
sporting the sign "General Insurance Co Ltd", in
the image linked above, was built in 1861 and
designed by the architect of Manchester Town Hall,
Alfred Waterhouse. Cecil Stewart in "The
Stones of Manchester" says of the building that
it, "seems a little fussy, as though
Waterhouse had tried to concentrate in one
building everything he knew of Venice, and, by
adding the dormers and the storks (which can be
glimpsed on the peaks of the dormers), a little
of Bavaria as well."
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