Mrs Gaskells House

Mrs Gaskell's House, located at No. 84 Plymouth Grove in Chorlton-On-Medlock, is a villa built around 1830-1840, now serving as the premises of the International Society. The building features painted stucco on brick and a shallow hipped slate roof. It has a square double-fronted plan with a coach-house wing attached to the south-west corner.

The villa is designed in a classical style, comprising two storeys over a basement and three symmetrical bays. It has a plinth, giant pilasters with lotus-leaf capitals, a first-floor sill-band, a plain frieze, a moulded cornice, and a low parapet with a raised centre. The central part of the facade includes a shallow rectangular porch with engaged columns arranged distyle in antis, matching the capitals of the pilasters. The porch features a deep plain frieze, cornice, and blocking course, along with four internal steps leading up to recessed glazed and panelled divided doors with margin panes. Above, there is a window with a shouldered architrave. All windows are 12-pane sashes, with the ground floor windows being taller and adorned with floating cornices on consoles. The building has two ridge chimneys and a three-bay left return wall that matches the front style.

At the rear, there is a prominent segmental-ended bow at the centre of the ground floor, with steps leading up to the north side, and 12-pane sashed windows with plain reveals. Inside, the entrance hall features a round-headed doorway in a screen with a fanlight, and there is a staircase with stick balusters. The coach-house wing consists of a basement and two storeys. This house was the home of the novelist Mrs Gaskell during the latter part of her life, following her earlier residences in Manchester, which no longer exist.