Gmb National College, Manchester
Description: Gmb National College
Grade: II*
Date Listed: 3 October 1974
English Heritage Building ID: 388025
OS Grid Reference: SJ8254394730
OS Grid Coordinates: 382543, 394730
Latitude/Longitude: 53.4490, -2.2643
Location: 26 Burford Road, Manchester, Greater Manchester M16 8BP
Locality: Manchester
County: Manchester
Country: England
Postcode: M16 8BP
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Listing Text
MANCHESTER
SJ89SW COLLEGE ROAD, Whalley Range
698-1/8/827 (South side)
03/10/74 GMB National College
(Formerly Listed as:
COLLEGE ROAD, Whalley Range
(South side)
Lancashire Independent College)
GV II*
College for training of Non-Conformist ministers, now Trade
Union college. 1840-43, by Irwin and Chester, wings re-built
to 3 storeys and hall added in late 1870s; altered. Sandstone
ashlar (brick at rear), slate roofs. Elongated E-plan, the
main range facing north, with rear wings, that in the centre
containing the former chapel or hall. Gothick style. Two
storeys raised over a full basement storey, plus central
tower, 1:9:3:9:1 windows, symmetrical, the centre and ends
breaking forwards. The central entrance block, forming an
eye-catching feature, has set-back buttresses (finished as
pinnacles), steps up to a moulded Tudor-arched doorway under a
shield with angel supporters, a full-height oriel above with
transomed windows of 3 and 2 stages separated by panelling
with a clock-face, a pierced parapet and crocketed corner
pinnacles, and an octagonal 2-stage lantern with open
arcading, gargoyles and pinnacles. The 9-bay side ranges have
Tudor-arched arcades to a cloister which runs through the
whole and has 2-light mullioned windows to the basement, a
string-course over this, large 6-light mullion-and-transom
windows to the principal floor with a drip-band stepped over
them, 2-light mullioned windows to the top floor, and an
embattled parapet. The wings have oriel windows and
crow-stepped gables with crocketed corner pinnacles. All
windows have geometrical leaded glazing. The rear and rear
wings, of brick, have similar transomed windows, those in the
hall Tudor-arched and with cusped lights. Interior: galleried
entrance hall; good Gothick decoration to most rooms on the
principal floor (including Tudor-arched doors, moulded plaster
ceilings, fireplaces, etc. History: built to provide higher
education for Nonconformists (excluded from the Universities
of Oxford and Cambridge until 1871), ante-dating Owens College
(1851) with which it jointly established the Victoria
University of Manchester in 1880.
Listing NGR: SJ8254394730
Source: English Heritage
Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.