Numbers 1 And 2 Calder House And Attached Stable

Numbers 1 and 2 Calder House and attached stable are a company agent's and manager's house and offices, built in 1779 for the Rochdale Canal Company. They are now two houses with a workshop underneath Number 1, and include an attached stable. The building is constructed of coursed squared stone with a stone slate roof. Its plan is ‘back-to-earth’, with a three-storey-plus-basement south front and a two-storey north front.

The south (canal) front has five bays, and the stable is set back on the left. The design incorporates raised quoins, a basement that forms a plinth, and a first-floor cill band. Openings are framed by raised, plain stone surrounds. The basement has a square window on the left and a smaller square window with iron bars in the centre. A cantilevered stone staircase with an iron handrail leads to a central ground-floor doorway, which has an original six-panel door (now centrally hinged) and an overlight. There are two windows to either side of the doorway, with matching windows above on the first and second floors. A tall, round-arched stair window rises from the first floor, although the top has been infilled with 20th-century windows. Most windows are 20th-century casements, although some are sashes. Moulded gutter brackets are present, as are end stacks. A pent-roofed addition is set back on the right, abutting an outshut to the rear. The stable on the left has a door in a plain stone surround, and a two-light flat-faced mullion window to its right, with a similar window above.

The rear (north) front is a three-bay symmetrical facade with plain stone surrounds to the openings and raised stone cills to the windows. A central doorway has an overlight and a single-light window above. Other windows are of two lights, with sashes in the left bay. Moulded gutter brackets are also present here. The right return features a lunette with ledges to the cill, above and to the sides.

The interior includes a wide entrance hall (in Number 1), a later dog-leg staircase with plain bars and a ramped baluster. A door leads to an original spiral stone staircase (now removed) that descended to the offices. In 1779, the Rochdale Canal Company agreed to provide a house for Thomas Walpole, their manager, as part of his contract, and this is the house that was built.