Paragon Mill

Paragon Mill is a cotton spinning mill constructed in 1912 for McConnell and Kennedy. It is located in Ancoats, Manchester, on Jersey Street and has a trapeziform plan. The building is primarily brick with white stone and terracotta dressings, featuring a concrete floor and an internal structure of cast iron columns, steel beams, and concrete floors. It comprises six storeys over ten bays, with a ground floor extension intended for preparation machinery. An external stair tower and towers housing electric motors are against the south elevation.

The architectural style is simplified baroque, visible in the sill bands on the ground and first floors, a wide stone string course between the fourth and fifth floors, pilasters above and below this course, and corner turrets featuring segmentally-arched bands and banded parapets. The windows are segmental-headed, with nine panes arranged in a 3-3-3 pattern, and are divided by pilasters. A tower at the southeast corner is topped with a broken pediment and parapet. The west return side is in a similar style, with a slightly canted stair and sprinkler tower rising two further storeys. An entrance is located at the base of the tower, which is linked by a bridge to the adjoining Sedgwick New Mill. A single-storeyed extension to the east, originally part of the design, also housed preparation machinery.

The mill was designed for electric power, utilizing a mains supply from Manchester Corporation. It is part of the McConnell Kennedy works, alongside the earlier Sedgwick Mills and Royal Mill. A fourth mill, the Long Mill, has since been demolished. McConnell Kennedy was one of the largest textile firms in Manchester and later amalgamated with the Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers Association in 1898. Paragon Mill represents an early example of a mains electrically powered mill, demonstrating early 20th-century construction techniques, and is an important component of the group of McConnell Kennedy mills.