Deansgate Station

Deansgate Station is a railway station dating to 1896. Constructed of red brick with blue brick bands and stone and terracotta dressings, it has a slate roof largely concealed from the street. The station occupies an angular site, with its entrance prominently positioned at a sharply curved corner. The architecture is in a Baronial style, two stories high. The corner entrance features paired doorways framed by terracotta, incorporating pointed archways with mock portcullises, gabled heads on colonettes, and paired elements between the doors. A blue brick base is marked by stone banding, with a band at first-floor sill level and a machicolated band at the eaves. A stepped parapet mimics battlements. A shield displays the date 1896 and features a stone scroll carved with the original name, Knott Mill Station. The first floor has paired windows above the doorways and single windows on either side; all are 1-over-1 plate-glass sashes with carved stone heads. Turret pilasters frame this central feature on both sides. The left return has a single and a tripartite cross-framed casement below, and similar 2-over-2 sashes above. The right return originally had two framed shopfronts, now with later windows, and sashes above as before.

The station originally opened as Knott Mill in 1849 on the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway, which was jointly owned by the London and North Western Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway from its inception. This line played a key role in the development of the surrounding area, and was one of the first truly suburban railways. It was substantially rebuilt at street level in 1896 by Robert Neill and Son at a cost of £2,000. The line was electrified in 1931, and the station was renamed Deansgate in 1974.