Manchester University Rutherford Building and Hopkinson Memorial Wing

Manchester University Rutherford Building and Hopkinson Memorial Wing

This is an L-shaped building of two and three storeys built over a raised basement. The east range, running north-south, contains the largest laboratory and lecture room. The west range, running east-west, contains two parallel series of rooms separated by wide spine corridors. The ground floor was devoted to electrical engineering and electro-chemistry, the first floor to general instruction in practical physics, and the second floor and basement mainly to research purposes. A flat platform on the roof of the west range originally housed an observatory. Attached to the north end of the east range is a single-storey range over a raised basement which was formerly a dynamo house for the Hopkinson memorial wing; it contained seventeen examples of direct and alternating-current generators and motors.

The front south elevation comprises eight bays with a gable over the third bay, the main entrance in the fourth bay, and a slightly projecting wide four-bay gable to the right. Stone window surrounds feature heavy stone mullions and thinner stone transoms with lintel bands to basement and ground floors, and sill bands to first and second floors, which carry round onto the east side elevation. Bays one and two have four-light mullion and transom windows on the ground and first floors; the second floor of bay one is blind with a two-light mullion window in bay two. Bay three has six-light windows on ground, first and second floors. Bay four has a four-light window on the first floor and two-light mullion window on the second floor. Bays five to eight have four two-light transom windows on the ground and first floors. The windows on the second and third storeys are set in a stepped stone panel, with four widely spaced single-light windows on the second floor and four closely spaced single-light windows on the third floor.

The main entrance features a stone-fronted porch with stone steps leading up to a wide depressed arch doorway with panelled double doors, narrow side lights and five square overlights, all with Art Nouveau leaded glass, flanked by two octagonal columns with cupolas. A triangular pediment over the doorway bears a relief carving of the University of Manchester's coat of arms and motto (Arduous ad Solem). The area in front of the building has low brick walls with moulded stone coping and decorative iron railings. At ground-floor level between bays one and two is a circular blue plaque commemorating Ernest Rutherford's achievements within the building; between bays five and six is a circular blue plaque commemorating Alison Uttley, children's author and Physics graduate of the university in 1906.

The west side elevation comprises three bays with symmetrical gables over the outer bays. The central bay has a wide doorway with double part-glazed doors and a mullioned overlight; in front are modern steps and a ramp. Above, on the first floor is a doorway set in a segmental-arched glazed screen opening onto a small stone balcony with decorative iron railings, originally used to adjust telescopes and practise using a sextant. Immediately to the left is a narrow single-light window. On the second floor is a similar central doorway set in a segmental-arched screen opening onto a wide stone balcony with decorative iron railings running almost the entire width of the façade. To the immediate left of the doorway is a small window and to the immediate right are two small apertures with a projecting stone ledge, with a similar single aperture and ledge towards the right corner. The room to the rear contained a Rowland concave grating spectrograph and the apertures enabled sunlight to enter via helioscopes placed on the ledges. The left bay has a stone segmental-arched window frame containing a wooden canted bay window. The right bay has a single-light window.

The east side elevation comprises five bays defined by buttresses. The left bay is wider with a gablet over; it has six-light mullion and transom windows on the ground and first floors, three single-light windows on the second floor set in a stepped stone panel with a single-light window above in the gablet. The remaining bays have four-light mullion and transom windows on the ground, first and second floors.

Internally, the main entrance opens into a porch with barrel-vaulted and panelled ceiling, orange terracotta screen with double doors, and side and overlights, the upper lights with Art Nouveau leaded glass. Beyond is an open space with two wide segmental arches of cream-coloured brick. The arch to the rear, now with an inserted glazed screen containing double doors, opens onto a stairwell containing the main staircase and a corridor through to the lobby of the Hopkinson memorial wing. The left arch opens onto the wide spine corridor.

The open well staircase has concrete steps and half landings supported on iron girders, decorative iron balusters with a moulded wooden handrail and blue tile dado. Features of note include corridors with terrazzo flooring with black and white border bands, blue glazed tiling to dado height with Art Nouveau floral border, and moulded cornices. Rutherford's personal laboratory is located on the ground floor in the north-west corner of the building. Along with many other rooms the space is lined with glazed brick, with an orange brick dado with dark brown border and cream bricks above. In some rooms the glazed bricks are covered with plasterboard and some are painted. All rooms have moulded cornices. Wide ground-floor doorways have six-panelled doors, with four-panelled doors on the upper floors.

The east range contains a large former lecture room on the second floor which rises through to an open roof with wooden roof trusses and panelled ceiling. High on either side of the south wall is an individual observation balcony. A modern mezzanine floor has been inserted in part of the room.

The Hopkinson memorial wing has a stone wall plaque in the east wall of the corridor inscribed "The John Hopkinson Electrotechnical Laboratory / This portion of the building / was erected and equipped in the year 1899 / in memory of / Dr John Hopkinson F.R.S. / by his parents relatives and friends". The lobby and corridor have glazed brown and cream bricks; the bricks in the dynamo room have been painted blue. The dynamo room has iron roof trusses; Perspex sheeting has been inserted beneath the original skylights to each side of the ridge. Attached to the west gable wall is a metal relief portrait of John Hopkinson.

A modern entrance block to the museum extension on Oxford Road attached to the north-east corner of the Rutherford Building is not of special interest.