Public Laundry

The Public Laundry, built between 1900 and 1910, is a notable example of Art Nouveau architecture located on Rhodes Street in Miles Platting, Manchester. This rectangular building features a combination of red brick and buff terracotta, topped with a slate and glazed roof.

The facade is two stories high and consists of five bays, with a nearly symmetrical design where the center and ends project slightly forward. It has a terracotta plinth, a red brick ground floor accented with terracotta quoins and a cornice, and terracotta tiled facing on the upper floor. The central three-bay section includes a Diocletian window on the ground floor, flanked by segmental-headed doorways that have terracotta surrounds, keystones, and segmental cornices. Above, there is a keyed oculus under a gabled parapet, flanked by pairs of small segmental-headed windows that echo the design of the doorways.

To the left, there is a link with four square-headed windows at ground level, each featuring segmental-headed terracotta architraves, keystones, and segmental cornices. The wide end bay to the left contains two pairs of similar windows on the ground floor and a lunette window on the first floor with an archband and keystone. The link and end bay to the right mirror this design but include additional openings: a narrow window in the link (now mostly replaced by a 20th-century doorway with a roller shutter) and a doorway in the end bay, which, along with the flanking windows, now has similar shutters. The roof features a continuous glazed skylight.

Inside, the laundry retains original Art Nouveau tiling in duck-egg blue, adorned with bands and friezes of blue and green swags and festoons, as well as original stained glass in the doors and other elements.