Derros Building

The Derros Building, located on Great Ancoats Street in Ancoats, is a women's shelter and rescue home built in 1899. It was designed by Walter Richard Sharp of Manchester for the Wesleyan Methodist Church’s Central Hall Mission, funded as a gift from Mr James Scarlett. The building is constructed in an Arts and Crafts style with Vernacular Revival detailing. It is red brick with decorative banding in buff terracotta, featuring a close-studded, jettied gable to the front attic storey. A blind timber-framed arcading serves as an eaves band on the side elevation. The roof is covered with interlocking clay tiles and includes flat-headed dormer windows, with a tall side-wall stack.

The building has a narrow, linear plan and originally included a coffee shop on the narrow frontage to Great Ancoats Street. The front elevation (south-west) is single-bayed and three storeys high with an attic. A former ground-floor shop frontage is now blocked, but decorative tilework remains on the stall risers and underneath a tiled canopy. An entrance doorway is positioned at an angle to the left. Above, a canted oriel window has a steeply-pitched tiled roof and mullioned and transomed window frames with leaded lights. A single-light window is situated to the right on the second floor, with a corresponding window above. The jettied gable features carved bargeboards and a central two-light window.

The north-west side elevation has nine bays and three storeys with attics. It incorporates stacked mullioned and transomed windows across six bays, with smaller single-light windows to the two staircase bays. Some windows retain leaded lights and stained glass decorative panels. Bands of buff terracotta are positioned between ground, first and second floor windows, with decorative window head embellishments. There are two doorways with rectangular overlights. Seven flat-headed dormer windows are above roof level.

Internally, the building has been altered, with some internal partitions removed. Cellar levels, formerly kitchens, contain hearths and storage areas. The staircase features square balusters and moulded handrails. Original five-panel doors and wainscot panelling are present on the ground floor. The floors are supported by ovolo-chamfered cross beams. Glazed tile hearths are found on the ground floor, alongside remnants of tiled flooring in the former coffee house. Upper floor partitions remain in place.

The women's shelter and rescue home was designed to provide non-institutional support, including temporary and semi-permanent accommodation, training, and recreational facilities, particularly for domestic servants in the industrial district of Ancoats. A ground floor coffee tavern provided an alcohol-free social environment, and the Central Hall was a mission centre for the Wesleyan Methodist Church, recognizing the need for a 24-hour refuge for women.