The Towers (Shirley Institute)

The Towers, now known as the Shirley Institute, is a large mansion house built between 1868 and 1872 by the architect Thomas Worthington. Carvings were executed by Thomas Earp of London, commissioned for J.E. Taylor, the proprietor and editor of the Manchester Guardian. The building has undergone internal alterations and late 20th-century additions. Constructed of red brick with sandstone dressings and slate roofs, it is arranged on an irregular double-pile plan with an attached external kitchen at the northeast corner and a gallery to the southwest. Designed in a French chateau style, the manor features two storeys with cellars, attics, and a tower.

The asymmetrical north front has seven bays and incorporates a stone plinth, a band between floors, and a parapet. A slender octagonal turret appears at the left corner, and an octagonal oriel is found at the right corner. Above the entrance in the fifth bay stands a square, two-stage tower. All these elements are topped with slate spire roofs, swept eaves, and a corbel table to the tower's cornice, with gabled dormers filling the spaces between. The north front is completed by a steeply-pitched hipped roof and prominently placed chimneys. The main doorway is sheltered by a 13th-century style porch with buttresses, a moulded two-centred arch supported by marble shafts, and a projecting curved balcony parapet with corner tourelles. Window openings are cross-window in form, with double-chamfered stone surrounds. The dormers feature Gothic enrichment finials, and the oriel contains a prominent moulded corbel enriched with carved grotesques, with smaller grotesques at the angles of the cornice.

Attached to the left end by a short link, the kitchen has a large mullioned window and a steeply hipped roof with a louvred penthouse ventilator. The stepped and irregular west end includes a large mullioned and transomed stair window that rounds a corner. A single-storey square extension (the gallery) with a pyramidal skylight roof is situated at the southwest corner. The south front, echoing the style of the rest of the building, boasts a two-storey canted bay window at the west end and a bold octagonal turret at the east corner, incorporating features similar to the oriel on the front.

Inside, the building is divided into an L-shape, separating family and service accommodation. Principal rooms are located within the south and west ranges, while service areas are situated in the north and east. Original decoration remains in the family areas, including a large entrance hall with a screen of granite shafts leading to a massive stone staircase with stained glass windows, coffered ceilings with painted panels in the parlour and library, and Gothic panelled doors with original brass furnishings. A massive stone fireplace is a feature of the kitchen, and servants’ stairs are located at the east end. Historically, the property was sold by J.E. Taylor in 1872 to David Adamson, an iron founder and engineer involved in the founding of the Manchester Ship Canal. Since 1920, the building has been occupied by the Shirley Institute, which conducts textile research.