Gmb National College

The GMB National College is a building originally constructed as a college for training Non-Conformist ministers, later used as a Trade Union college. It was built between 1840 and 1843, by Irwin and Chester, with wings rebuilt to three storeys and a hall added in the late 1870s, and subsequently altered. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar, with brick at the rear, and has slate roofs. It is in an elongated E-plan, with the main range facing north, and includes rear wings, the central one formerly a chapel or hall. The style is Gothick.

The building comprises two storeys raised over a full basement storey, and features a central tower, with a symmetrical arrangement of 1:9:3:9:1 windows. The central entrance block is an eye-catching feature, with set-back buttresses that terminate as pinnacles, leading to a Tudor-arched doorway with a shield bearing angel supporters. Above the doorway is a full-height oriel with transomed windows arranged over three and two stages, separated by panelling and incorporating a clock-face. This is surmounted by a pierced parapet and crocketed corner pinnacles, and an octagonal two-stage lantern with open arcading, gargoyles, and pinnacles. The side ranges, with nine bays each, have Tudor-arched arcades forming a cloister that runs the length of the building, with two-light mullioned windows to the basement. A string course sits above the basement windows, above which are large six-light mullion-and-transom windows with a stepped drip-band. Two-light mullioned windows are positioned on the top floor, topped by an embattled parapet. The wings feature oriel windows and crow-stepped gables with crocketed corner pinnacles. All windows have geometrically leaded glazing. The rear and rear wings, constructed of brick, have similar transomed windows, with those in the hall being Tudor-arched and featuring cusped lights.

The interior includes a galleried entrance hall, and displays good Gothick decoration throughout most of the principal floor's rooms, including Tudor-arched doors, moulded plaster ceilings, and fireplaces.

The college was built to provide higher education for Nonconformists, who were excluded from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge until 1871. It predates Owens College (1851), and jointly established the Victoria University of Manchester in 1880.