Civic Theatre

SJ 89 SW (SJ 7994 SE) 5/12

STRETFORD CHESTER ROAD (north-west side) Civic Theatre

II Free public library, overseer's office and lecture rooms, now offices.1879. Given by John Rylands. Brick with ashlar dressings and slate roof. 9 bays with 2 storeys. Mixed Gothic Revival. Symmetrical elevation with central entrance and tower. Paired sash ground floor windows with separating colonnettes and carved roundels to the arched stone lintels. Foliated carving to impost band. Sash windows to first floor with ornate cast-iron balconies. The window in bay 8 has been reduced in height. Coped parapet above crocket frieze. A 3-light gabled dormer window breaks the symmetry. Bold stone pinnacles overhang at the corners. The tower has grand panelled double-doors below a moulded arch, a balcony with cast-iron parapet at the third stage, clock faces, a machicolated frieze and a steep pyramidal roof.

Interior: the central stair hall is surrounded by quatrefoil columns with carved capitals. Coloured floor tiles, glazed wall tiles, panelled doors with elaborate surrounds, plaster cornices and the grand stair which has a roll-moulded rail and prominent newel post include some of the internal features.

Listing NGR: SJ7970494466