Police And Fire Station

MANCHESTER

SJ8497SE LONDON ROAD 698-1/20/224 (West side) 03/10/74 Police and Fire Station

GV II*

Police and fire station. 1901-6, by Woodhouse, Willoughby and Langham. Red brick with liberal dressings of yellow terracotta, slate roofs. Very large irregular quadrilateral plan round a central courtyard, on triangular island site. Ebullient Edwardian Baroque style, with turrets, domes, corner tourelles, and tall south-east tower with domed belfry. Four and 3 storeys, with attics, 3:1:4:1:4:1:3 bays to London Road, symmetrical, with 4-storey 11-bay centre flanked by 3-storey 3-bay wings, banded terracotta ground floor, modillioned eaves cornice. The 4-storey main range has a giant round-headed central archway with banded surround and inner lintel lettered "FIRE AND POLICE STATION", large square windows at ground floor, coupled windows at 1st floor, a giant colonnaded screen to the 2nd and 3rd floors with coupled columns on pedestals, round-headed windows to 2nd floor and coupled windows to 3rd floor, plain frieze and moulded cornice, a balustraded parapet with central upstand lettered "ERECTED ANNO DOMINI MDCCCCV", and end turrets finished with Baroque cupolas which have life-sized terracotta statues seated at the corners. The 3-bay wings, in similar style, have (inter alia) central windows with elaborate architraves including balconies at 1st floor, a domed turret to the left and a corner tourelles to the right. The very long facades to Fairfield Street (left return) and Whitworth Street (right return) are in generally similar style (without the colonnade and cupolas), but including 4 open-pedimented bays (segmental in Whitworth Street) and with a series of round-headed arched fire-engine doorways to Fairfield Street; and the narrow west end is slightly simpler. The inner courtyard has (inter alia) iron balconies to 3 levels of the 3 main ranges (serving domestic accommodation), with standards in Art Nouveau style. An ambitious building with much good detail of the period, in unusually complete condition.

Listing NGR: SJ8466497798