Former Department Of Metallurgy, University Of Manchester, And Attached Railings

The former Department of Metallurgy at the University of Manchester, now a university department building, was constructed in 1908 by Charles Heathcote. This building features red brick with limestone dressings and has a slate and glass roof. It is situated on a corner site and has a roughly rectangular plan, oriented at right angles to the street, designed in the Edwardian Baroque style.

The building has three storeys and an attic, with a symmetrical façade of three bays (two windows in the outer bays and one in the center). The central bay projects slightly and includes stone quoins, a prominent modillioned cornice, a parapet, and a hipped roof. The central bay is adorned with full-height stone pilasters and an open-segmental pediment featuring a cartouche. At the ground floor, there is a semi-circular porch supported by Ionic columns, an entablature with a cornice, and a half-domed roof. The first floor has a large window similar to others at this level, while the second floor features a stone balcony with wrought-iron railings and a round-headed window.

The outer bays contain two windows on each floor; the ground floor windows are segmental-headed 12-pane sashes with keystones, the first floor has 3-leaf 18-pane sashes in moulded architraves with triple keystones, and the second floor has oeil-de-boeuf windows with triple keystones and swags. Wrought-iron forecourt railings flank the building, featuring simplified Art Nouveau standards.

On the right-hand return side, close to the front corner, there is a full-height semi-circular bay with stone bands on the ground and first floors, a stone top floor with swags, and a cornice that wraps around to a balustraded parapet. The long range at the rear is mostly functional in style and includes a skylight roof. The building forms a group with the Manchester Museum and the University of Manchester to the left.