The building was one of the first to be erected on the newly widened Deansgate.[3]
The building sustained damage and the dome was shattered during the Manchester Blitz 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 (5,100 m2) and in 1957 the rent roll was about £17,000 a year. It is named after its original developer.[4]
On 25 January 1972, the arcade was designated as a Grade II* listed building. The listing encompasses the "block of shops (Barton's Building) and offices enclosing the arcades."[2]
The arcade underwent restoration in the 1980s, and the original shop fronts and decorative floor no longer exist.[1]
Architecture
Hartwell describes the Barton's Building façade as "utterly ignorant... the ground floor pilasters must be seen to be believed."[5] 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."[5]
The entrance to the arcade on St Ann's Square incorporates a large, cast iron and glass wall. The two entrances on Deansgate are hidden behind the Barton Building. The building is "four storeys with an attic, a long nine-bay façade to Deansgate, divided in half horizontally by a balustraded balcony."[2] The structure is composed of cast iron and glass, with the ironwork supplied by the Saracen Foundry in Glasgow.[5]
