Former Widnes Corporation Bus Depot

Bus depot dating from 1923, built for Widnes Corporation, with a workshop added in 1945 and a canteen and bicycle shed constructed in 1949.

The depot is built of orange brick in English garden wall bond (3:1), decorated with orange terracotta detailing. The roof structure is steel, covered with corrugated metal, asbestos or plastic sheeting.

Plan and Layout

The building is large and rectangular, running east to west. It contains a full-height covered garage to the rear and a lower office and workshop range at the front. Three original vehicle entrances pass through the front range, with an inserted vehicle entrance on the east side providing direct access to the garage from Caldwell Road. The front range is divided into three blocks by the vehicle entrances. To the left and right of the middle entrance are two-storey offices and stores. To the left of the left-hand entrance is a workshop which is full-height internally. At the west end is a small open yard with a tall single-storey rectangular workshop at the rear, attached to the west gable wall of the depot. Also attached to the west gable are a small single-storey store and oil tank, and another single-storey store at the front of the yard.

Exterior

The depot occupies a corner site at the junction of Moor Lane and Caldwell Road. The two-storey front office range faces south onto Moor Lane with a double-pitched roof. Behind it, the large full-height garage has a higher double-pitched roof. The building features a plinth with terracotta coping, a moulded terracotta string course at first-floor window sill level, and a moulded terracotta eaves cornice incorporating a band of dog-tooth decoration. The garage roof has ten ridge ventilators and a row of roof lights to each side.

The office range has three double-height vehicle entrances along the front elevation, each beneath a triangular pediment with an inset triangular panel. The middle and right-hand pediments both have shaped terracotta finials; the left-hand one is missing. The three vehicle entrances are flanked by cast-iron hoppers and downpipes, with an additional hopper and downpipe at the left-hand end. The left-hand and middle vehicle entrances have rolled steel joist lintels resting on stone impost blocks, and modern metal roller shutters. The middle pediment panel is inset with terracotta displaying the date 1923 and "WIDNES" beneath in raised lettering. To either side at first-floor level are terracotta panels with raised lettering set into the wall: the left panel reads "CORPORATION"; the right panel reads "GARAGE". At ground-floor level to the left of the middle vehicle entrance is a grey granite foundation stone laid by the Mayor and dated 26 October 1923. The right-hand vehicle entrance is located at the corner of the building and has a timber lintel with a moulded terracotta cornice above (painted yellow).

To the left of the left-hand vehicle entrance are two two-light square-headed windows on the ground floor and two single-light square-headed windows on the first floor (serving a single full-height workshop internally). The windows have terracotta surrounds with moulded sills, lintels and alternating jambs, with stepped hood moulds over. The ground-floor windows also have terracotta mullions. The windows have four-pane mullion and transom timber frames with the smaller top lights bottom-hinged to open inwards.

Between the left-hand and middle vehicle entrances are two pedestrian doorways flanking three ground-floor windows and two first-floor single-light windows. Two of the ground-floor windows and both first-floor windows have similar terracotta surrounds with stepped hood moulds. The left ground-floor window (originally a single-light window) has been altered to form a wider rectangular window with a soldier brick lintel and multi-pane timber window frame. The left doorway has a terracotta frame with alternating jambs and a stepped hood mould, and a four-panel timber door. The right doorway (beneath the "CORPORATION" panel) is larger with a terracotta doorcase featuring pilasters and fluted consoles with foliate panels supporting an entablature. Raised lettering on the frieze reads "ENGINEER" beneath a stepped hood mould. The panelled double doors have a rectangular overlight.

Between the middle and right-hand vehicle entrances are two original pedestrian doorways flanking three ground-floor windows (the right-hand window now converted to a doorway) and four altered first-floor windows (originally two single-light windows). To the right of the middle vehicle entrance is a second large doorway with a similar terracotta doorcase (beneath the "GARAGE" panel). The frieze reads "SUPERINTENDENT" beneath a stepped hood mould. It also has panelled double doors with a rectangular overlight. The original right doorway has a terracotta frame with alternating jambs and a stepped hood mould, and a six-fielded-panel door. The single-light window to its left has been converted to a doorway retaining the terracotta alternating jambs, lintel and stepped hood mould. It has a panel door with a rectangular overlight. The two remaining two-light windows on the ground floor have terracotta surrounds, mullions and stepped hood moulds. The four first-floor windows have a concrete sill and lintel band. The large rectangular windows have metal casements.

The east gable walls of the office range and garage have pier and panel construction with a plinth, flush terracotta brick string band at first-floor level, and terracotta edging to the top of the panels. The moulded terracotta eaves cornice and dog-tooth decoration continues around from the front elevation. The lower office gable apex has a shaped terracotta finial; that on the garage gable apex is missing. There is a cast-iron hopper and downpipe in the valley between the two roofs. The garage gable has four shallow buttresses and a central ventilation roundel. There is an inserted vehicle entrance to the left of centre with a timber-fronted lintel. Recessed and attached on the right-hand side is the single-storey brick canteen with a mono-pitch roof. In front is a brick wall enclosing a small yard with a gateway into the yard and a second, narrower gateway to a passageway along the side of the canteen and bicycle store.

At the left-hand end of the front elevation, abutting the west gable wall of the front range, is a small single-storey brick extension with a mono-pitch roof. The front elevation continues the moulded terracotta string course from the office range. It has two boarded-up windows, one narrow and one wider, with terracotta soldier lintels and sills. A doorway to the right has a soldier lintel and four-panelled door. The west gable of the office range retains the terracotta eaves cornice and a partial finial. The gable apex of the garage is covered in corrugated metal sheeting. The lower workshop range is attached to its left-hand side and the single-storey store and oil tank is attached to its right-hand side.

The workshop range stands at the rear of the west yard. It is built of orange brick in English garden wall bond (3:1) with a double-pitched roof of corrugated sheeting. The south front elevation has a double-height central entrance with sliding double timber doors to the exterior. To each side are three large rectangular windows with concrete sills and lintels. Four of the windows have timber frames of five vertical panes and two of the windows to the right have multi-pane metal frames. The west gable wall is blind. The rear elevation has similar windows with concrete sills and lintels and multi-pane metal frames.

The single-storey store attached to the west gable of the garage has a flat roof behind a low parapet with shaped terracotta coping to the southern side; the northern side has a parapet of brick headers. Standing against the west wall is a large rectangular oil tank enclosed by a low brick wall.

Interior

The garage is a wide open space with a concrete floor and painted brick walls with shallow brick buttresses. It is spanned by riveted steel trusses set into the buttresses and without intermediate supports to the wide spans. The roof is lined with timber boarding. A number of iron pipes run the length of the garage beneath the roof trusses and are linked to a cross pipe at the west end. In the north-east corner of the garage is a large circular fuel tank enclosed by a brick wall. At the west end of the floor are five bus inspection pits.

The front range has three blocks separated by the three full-height vehicle entrances. The blocks to each side of the middle vehicle entrance are two storeys, each with an external staircase rising against the end walls flanking the vehicle entrance. Both staircases have a steel supporting frame with a first-floor landing and steps with concrete treads and a steel balustrade with slender square balusters and a shaped handrail. At the foot of the staircases are wide ground-floor doorways with four-panelled doors and at the head are doorways with part-glazed doors with timber lower panels and four horizontal upper panes. The elevations facing into the garage have large segmental-arched windows on the ground floor with four-pane mullion and transom timber frames with the smaller top lights bottom-hinged to open inwards. The left-hand elevation also has a segmental-arched doorway. Inside, the blocks have spine corridors. On the ground floor the offices to the outside have plastered walls and large borrowed-light partitions and half-glazed doors, all with textured glass, opening onto the corridors. Interconnecting doorways have solid panelled doors. On the inside of the corridors, the stores have painted brick walls and solid panelled doors. On the first floors the offices are ceiled. Doors opening onto the corridors are half-glazed and the outside rooms have borrowed-light partitions onto the corridors. The rooms are heated by cast-iron radiators.

The west block in the front range houses a full-height workshop space (although appearing two-storey externally). It has painted brick walls and a similar visible riveted steel truss roof structure with "R WHITE & SONS WIDNES" stencilled on the trusses. The roof is lined with timber boards. There is a large double-height doorway with a sliding timber door in the east wall (opening onto the vehicle entrance) and a pedestrian doorway into the garage space.

The workshop is full-height with painted brick walls and an under-drawn roof structure. At the west end is a two-storey stores area with a timber staircase up to the first floor. At the east end is a double-height doorway with sliding timber doors connecting the workshop to the garage, with a similar external doorway into the yard to the south. Beneath the windows are fixed timber benches with metal sheets covering the work surfaces. There is a travelling overhead hoist running on a rolled steel joist frame.