A sheltered view down the River Medlock in Manchester, seen from Oxford Bridge and looking in the direction of India House, a large office building on Whitworth Street. The top of the scene is framed by the black underside of an archway belonging to the railway viaduct spanning Oxford Road. In the centre of the composition is the hazy, looming form of India House, its numerous lit up windows reflected in the water below. To the left, extending out over the river is part of the Refuge Assurance building (now the Palace Hotel). To the right are two large, industrial looking buildings beyond which are the various indistinct forms of girders and trails of smoke. Travelling along the river in the middle-distance are two flat barges.