Victoria Square

MANCHESTER

SJ8498 OLDHAM ROAD, Ancoats 698-1/17/459 (South side) 20/06/88 Victoria Square (Formerly Listed as: OLDHAM ROAD, Ancoats (South side) Victoria Buildings)

GV II

Tenement block. 1889, by Henry Spalding and A.W.Cross, for Manchester Corporation; altered. Red brick with terracotta dressings, slate roofs. Square courtyard plan with balcony access inside courtyard. The Oldham Road facade is 5 storeys (plus attics to the centre and ends), 18 main bays, symmetrical (with windows grouped 3:1:1:1:1:1:2:1:1:1:1:1:3), a shaped gable over the 2-bay centre, larger shaped gables and pavilion roofs with apex lanterns and finials over the ends, and small pedimented gables with ball finials over the intermediated bays; and a cornice over the ground floor and double string-courses between the upper floors giving a strong horizontal emphasis. The 2-bay centre has coupled segmental-headed arches at ground floor, canted oriels tiered from 1st to 4th floor with terracotta mullion-and-transom windows, and 3 oculi in the gable. Otherwise, the ground floor has altered shop fronts, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of the intermediate bays have pairs of segmental-headed sashed windows and the 4th floor has tripartite sashes under semicircular blank arches, and between these windows each floor has a blank arch containing 2 very small windows; and the 3-bay ends have single windows to all floors including the attic gables, which have tall round-headed windows in the centre. Splayed corners with doorways at ground floor and oriels to the upper floors like those of the centre. The long east and west return sides each have pairs of semi-circular arched staircase openings at both ends of each upper floor, tripartite windows to the ground and 4th floors, paired windows to the other floors and pairs of oculi between all these windows; and the west side has a central entrance archway to the courtyard. Ridge chimneys. Rear similar. Courtyard surrounded by balconies with prominent curving supports to the railings. History: first municipal housing in Manchester.

Listing NGR: SJ8496698803