Grosvenor Building, Manchester Metropolitan University Faculty of Art and Design

The Grosvenor Building, now part of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Faculty of Art and Design, was originally the Manchester Municipal School of Art. It was built in 1880-81, designed by G.T. Redmayne, with a rear addition dating from 1898 by J.G. Sankey.

The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar, with red brick and buff terracotta dressings, and has slate roofs with glass skylights. The original section is a rectangular block, running parallel to the street, with two storeys over a basement. It features a 1:3:1:3:1 bay arrangement in a Gothic style, incorporating large gabled wings with pinnacles and a buttressed, arcaded main range. The centre of the building has a doorway with a chamfered head, moulded arch, and carved spandrels. Above this is a small canted oriel with four arched lights and a steep, weathered roof set against a crocketed gable with corner pinnacles and an apex finial. The flanking arcaded bays have rectangular windows set under two-centred blank arches and corbel tables, with a parapet and a continuous skylight running along the lower part of the roof. The gabled wings feature giant depressed arches containing tripartite windows on both floors, with the upper portion composed of tall, two-centred arched lights. An octagonal chimney rises behind the main ridge, featuring a machicolated and embattled top. The return wall on the right has five bays of giant arches with windows on both floors.

The rear addition consists of three gabled bays with broad pilasters extending almost to the full height, topped with a dentilled band. A string-course steps over a terracotta panel in the centre of each bay. At ground floor level, there’s an arcade of three round-headed, two-light windows with raked sills, moulded surrounds, and two-centred arched lights with central shafts and carved spandrels. The sills of the second and third bays are notably higher, and a terracotta tablet with Art Nouveau enrichment and raised lettering commemorates a gift of £10,000 from the Council and Guarantors of the Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition 1887, towards the construction of the Royal Jubilee Exhibition Wing. The interior was not inspected during listing.