Werneth Park Adult Education Centre

Werneth Park Adult Education Centre is a house built around 1847-1849, now functioning as a study centre since 1938. The building is constructed of brick with stone dressings and features a Welsh slate roof in the Italianate style. It has two storeys and a square plan that is asymmetrically expressed. The entrance front faces west, with a central entrance positioned at an angle next to an advanced gabled wing to the left. This wing includes a projecting entrance porch adorned with a shell-hood over the architrave, which frames paired doors, and a panelled parapet above. To the left, there is a canted bay window in the gabled wing, also with a panelled parapet, while a blind window is located to the right of the doorway. The façade features a double string course and three 4-pane sash windows above, along with a modillion cornice at the overhanging eaves. The garden front displays paired pedimented gables on either side of the central entrance, each featuring a squared bay window with a fretted parapet and three 4-pane sash windows above. The building has end wall and axial stacks.

Inside, much of the original interior remains intact, including the staircase and decorative plaster cornices. One room showcases walls and a ceiling painted in a Rococo Italian style. The house was originally built by the Lees family as a private residence but was donated to Oldham in 1835 by Marjory Lees for use as a museum and study centre. JH Heywood later extended the house with a rear wing to accommodate the natural history collection.