Description

SJ 8496 OXFORD ROAD, Chorlton-On-Medlock
698-1/21/608 (West side)
03/10/74 Manchester Museum Extensions

(Formerly listed as
Manchester Museum)

GV II

Extensions to the Manchester Museum. Designed 1911 and 1918 by Paul Waterhouse, and built 1911-1927. Paul Waterhouse died in 1924, and the contract was completed by his son, Michael. Sandstone ashlar, with roofs of lead and red tiles. Linear plan in 3 portions, the earliest to the left and the latest to the right. Gothic Revival style. The earlier portion, in Hotel de Ville style, 2 storeys and 5 bays, symmetrical, has buttresses, an embattled parapet to the 3 centre bays and slightly higher square parapets to the end bays penetrated by gablets, and a steeply-pitched lead-clad hipped roof with a fleche; large double-transomed 9-light windows at ground floor, large segmental-pointed 3-light windows at 1st floor with arched lights and 6-light Perpendicular tracery, and gablets in the end bays containing multifoils. Attached at the left end is a 2-storey entrance archway and bridge over the entrance to Coupland Street. This has a large 2-centred arch and three 3-light windows above, the centre under a gable, and incorporates a porter's lodge and curator's room. The central portion, 2 lower storeys and 3 bays, with gabled centre flanked by pilaster buttresses, has windows at ground floor like those to the left, and 3-light windows at 1st floor, all with cusped heads. The central window has Perpendicular tracery rising into the gable The right-hand portion is a cross wing with a facing gable. 4 storeys and attic in one wide gabled bay, with octagonal tourelles at the corners finished with arcaded pinnacles flanking the gable. The lower half is a giant segmental-headed arch with a projecting gabled porch which has a 2-centred arched doorway moulded in 2 orders with shafts, and is otherwise filled by a 7-light window with 14-light Perpendicular tracery; the upper half has mullioned 2, 3 and 2-light windows to the next 2 floors, a band of blind arcading between these, and an attic window with 2-centred arched centre and blind-arcaded surround. The rear of this range has mainly flat-headed windows in a grid pattern, and a central gable with a pointed arched traceried window, flanked by hipped dormers.
SOURCES:
Manchester Museum Annual Reports, 1912, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927
Signed drawings by Paul Waterhouse, 1911 and 1918.

Listing NGR: SJ8455096642

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26538707

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
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  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)