The Mawson Hotel

A public house on Frances Street in Chorlton-on-Medlock, originally a small mid- to late-19th-century hotel. In 1936–7, it was amalgamated with two neighbouring terraced houses and rebuilt to designs by Fred Riley of Brameld & Smith. The building is constructed in brick with faience dressings (some painted), has a shallow slate roof, tall chimneys, and comprises two storeys plus a basement.

Plan

The hotel occupies a corner site with a reverse L-shaped plan, fronting both Cabot Street and Frances Street. The main front elevation faces south-west. An entrance vestibule leads to a lounge on the right. From the vestibule, a wide drinking lobby is accessed, with the smoke room (now known as 'The Library') off to the front left, the 'Vault' and a former tenant's room off to the rear right. A passageway at the rear of the lobby provides access to toilets and the basement, with stairs to the first-floor accommodation set in the rear right corner.

Exterior

The 1936–7 alterations introduced five-light wooden casement windows across the entire first floor (each with two large lights below and three smaller lights above). The ground floor now has similarly styled but slightly larger replacement uPVC windows with leading, black painted sills, and white painted lintels at first-floor level.

The two principal elevations, facing south-east and south-west, are built in Accrington brick set upon a tall faience plinth (painted purple/grey) that extends up to the ground-floor windows. A deep moulded faience cornice (painted black) with a red signage fascia bordered in black wraps around both principal elevations and the north-west return between the ground and first floors. This cornice incorporates the name 'MAWSON' in large gold relief lettering and forms a lintel band for the ground-floor windows. Both principal elevations feature faience and Accrington brick parapets.

The front (south-west) elevation facing Cabot Street has four bays. The main entrance is located in bay 3 at ground-floor level, with a faience surround (painted black) incorporating a console-supported entablature above with scrolled decoration (painted gold). The door has been replaced, but the overlight retains leaded glazing. The entrance is flanked by wall-mounted lanterns depicting Mr Mawson's portrait. Two five-light windows are positioned to the left of the entrance, with a wider six-light window to the right. The first-floor windows correspond with the entrance and windows below.

The south-east elevation facing Frances Street has seven bays. At ground-floor level, bays 1 and 6 contain six-light windows. Bay 2 has a doorway with an overlight (the former off-sales entrance, now with a boarded-over door), and bay 7 has another doorway with an overlight (the entrance to first-floor accommodation, with a panelled door and leaded glazing to the overlight). Bay 3 has a slender three-light window, and bays 4 and 5 have five-light windows. The first floor has six five-light windows. The splayed south corner features a three-light window at ground-floor level and a five-light window at first-floor level.

The north-west elevation is in plain brick with windows in a similar style to those on the two principal elevations. A small single-storey lean-to containing the ladies' toilets is attached to the centre of this elevation, with a doorway to the right. A narrow yard area in front is enclosed by a high brick wall with a plank-and-batten door (painted black) at the south-west end. The return of the front south-west range projects forward for two bays at the far right of the elevation, forming the reverse L-shape, with two windows at ground-floor level and a single window at first-floor level on the north-east side.

The rear north-east elevation is a blank gable end in plain brick, appearing to be a mid- to late-20th-century rebuild following the demolition of attached terraced housing.

Interior

The 1936–7 interior layout and features survive throughout the ground floor. Polished veneer woodwork (possibly oak) is used extensively, including plain and panelled doors, carved door and window surrounds, and covered radiator/heater boxes. Panelled dados of varying heights are found throughout, some incorporating fixed bench seating. The floors are floorboards, now concealed under carpets. Numbers appear above doors to the main rooms, including the basement. All rooms have ceiling coving.

The small main entrance vestibule has a tall panelled dado and a green and cream terrazzo tiled floor. Partly glazed panelled inner double doors with a four-light leaded overlight above (with the two central lights forming a hopper window) lead into the drinking lobby and main body of the pub. A similarly styled partly glazed panelled door (without an overlight) on the right side of the vestibule, with the number '3' at the top of the door surround, leads into the lounge. A small nameplate on the door reads 'LOUNGE'.

The heptagonal-shaped lounge, also known as the 'Brass Room' (originally called the 'public bar'), features fixed bench seating and a panelled dado that continues across the top of the seating as a narrow band. A corner fireplace (painted black and gold) has gold tiled cheeks and a section of black tiling above and behind. A partly glazed baffle (with the glazing possibly replaced) stands next to the door. The bar counter has a panelled front, an integral service door, and a shuttered upper section with leaded sliding sashes set within a carved wooden surround.

The long and wide octagonal drinking lobby (originally called the 'hall') has a passageway and rooms radiating off it. Arched openings at each end feature gilded fleur-de-lys style moulding around the arches. The ceiling is decorative and moulded in green and gold. A tall panelled dado runs throughout, and a long bar counter is set along the right (south-east) side of the lobby. The counter has a panelled front and a shuttered upper section in the same style as that in the lounge. Fixed bench seating runs along the north-west wall opposite the bar counter, with the panelled dado continuing above. The bar back (possibly a later replacement) has an off-sales area behind it with a 1930s white tiled dado featuring a green patterned border. The serving hatch between the bar and off-sales area has been removed.

A door at the front left of the drinking lobby, with two upper panels containing leaded glazing, leads into a small room known as 'The Library' (originally called the 'smoke room'). The number '2' appears on the door surround above. The Library has a panelled dado, fixed bench seating (possibly re-upholstered) on each wall with a band of wood panelling above, and a fireplace (painted black, gold, and red) with red patterned tiled cheeks. Wall-mounted bookshelves flank the chimneybreast, and a partly glazed baffle stands next to the door.

A small room known as the 'Vault' (originally called the 'bar parlour') is located off the rear right of the drinking lobby, with the number '4' at the top of the door surround (the door has been removed). It has a panelled dado that continues above fixed bench seating, a partly glazed baffle next to the doorway, and a carved wooden fire surround with a curved centrepiece, a green tiled hearth, and later brick infill. A doorway in the front (south-west) wall with a half-door (hatch service) leads into the bar servery. A door in the rear (north-east) wall leads into a small private room at the far right rear of the building (originally a tenant's room, now a kitchen), which has secondary access to the basement and entrance vestibule and stairs to the first floor.

A narrow passageway at the rear (north-east end) of the drinking lobby has a tall panelled dado. An arched opening on the left (north-west) side leads into a small lobby with a pale green tiled dado incorporating a green border and geometric patterned band. A panelled door leads out to the yard, with an adjacent window, and a plain veneer door leads into the ladies' toilets, which have white tiled walls incorporating a narrow decorative band in the same style as that in the off-sales area.

A further arched opening at the rear of the passageway has a door into the gentlemen's toilets, which have a terrazzo floor and white tiled walls. A door on the right (south-east) side, with the number '5' above, leads to a 1930s domestic four-panel door accessing a stone basement stair with a wooden handrail. The basement has a series of rooms with plank-and-batten doors. The first floor was not inspected.

History

The Mawson Hotel is believed to have been originally constructed in the mid- to late 19th century. Originally, it only occupied a corner building at number 78 Frances Street, where it fronted onto Clyde Street (now known as Cabot Street). The ground floor of the hotel contained a serving bar, newsroom, snug, and kitchen. Attached to the building were two terraced houses, numbers 74 and 76 Frances Street, and attached to number 74 Frances Street was further terraced housing (slightly larger in size). The surrounding community was largely formed of Irish immigrants.

In 1936–7, The Mawson Hotel and numbers 74 and 76 Frances Street were amalgamated and rebuilt to the designs of Fred Riley of Brameld & Smith, architects of Manchester, for Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd of Leeds as a single public house known as The Mawson Hotel, number 78 Frances Street. The exterior was remodelled, the interiors were reconfigured, and a new interior scheme was created. The terraced housing attached to the former number 74 (and also that on all the surrounding streets) was demolished in the mid- to late 20th century.