Long Street Methodist, Middleton, Manchester
A busy and worthwhile opening to the first day of the heritage weekend at the Arts & Crafts Church with over 50 visitors travelling from around the region, despite the heavy down pours. When the sun did shine various architectural features lit up to reveal their full splendour.
It was good to hear the visitors say how impressed they were by this beautiful building.
The Arts and Crafts Church – Long Street Methodist Church and School Rooms will be open for visitors on Friday, Saturday 10am-4pm and Sunday 1-4pm, September 8-10th.
For details of other places to visit in the area, click on the links below or copy into your browser:
www.heritageopendays.org.uk
www.middletonheritage.co.uk
Whether you are you a budding architectural photographer or someone who just loves taking photographs of buildings, don’t miss this day course with one of the country’s top architectural cameramen.
Continue reading “How to Photograph Buildings… with Andy Marshall”
The Greater Manchester Building Preservation Trust’s THI grant scheme to restore the Long Street Wesleyan School has been racing along these last few months, headed by architect, Lisa Mcfarlane of Seven Architecture. The finance is almost all in place, the work has been tendered and a contractor chosen. Now the final details are being nailed down.
Continue reading “Restoration of the Wesleyan School – Update”
Two articles on pots – Austrian art nouveau pottery and the paintings of Klimt concerns the first while English Arts & Crafts modernism concerns the second… Fin-de-Siècle Austrian Pottery Paired with Prints by Klimt and A potted history of studio ceramics …It’s interesting to compare the pots in each!
On August 12th thirty eight people set off on the Edgar Wood Society’s visit to Pownall and Bramhall Halls. It was a wonderful day with so many beautiful objects to admire.
At Pownall the star of the show for many was the outstanding stained glass, probably by Carl Almquist of the Lancaster firm, Shrigley and Hunt. Pownall also gave us the opportunity to see the only known example of the Century Guild’s work in its original setting. Mackmurdo fireplaces, De Morgan tiles, Art Nouveau door hinges – an absolute feast for the senses! Have a look through the gallery below. Continue reading “Grand Day Out – Pownall and Bramall Halls”
Gustav Stickley III visits his famous grandfather’s Syracuse home – If you like American Arts & Crafts, this should interest you. The grandson of Gustav Stickley, now an old man, visits his grandfather’s house which he knew as a boy just before it is restored. Click here for the story and 27 photos.
Unaltered art deco semi for sale – there has been a flurry of stories about an unaltered modest 1930s house and its asking price. Here are two of them… The home that’s frozen in time and Art Deco house that’s been left untouched since the 1930s is now on sale
Willow Tea Rooms update – The last time I saw Mackintosh’s Willow Tea Rooms, they were looking a little seedy. Now the exterior is fully restored with the interior to follow (via an eye-watering restoration budget). Here are two articles with photos bringing you up to date… Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s restored Willow Tea Rooms revealed and Willow Tea Rooms will complete stunning transformation with £4m lottery boost.
Gaudí and his Modernisme contemporaries – Here is an attractive overview of Barcelona’s art nouveau or Modernisme buildings. There are some colourful photos!
First Church of Christ Scientist, in Victoria Park, Manchester is on the market and is likely to have a change of use. Agents Canning O’Neill are open minded as to what that use might entail but a well aware of the outstanding significance of the building.
It would be great to find a new sensitive use that can also conserve and restore this Edgar Wood masterpiece. For example, why not reinstate the lost Edgar Wood chimneys at the ends of the wings (see photo) and undertake historical paint analysis to restore Edgar Wood’s original internal colour scheme? Along with the Middleton and Hale designs, The First Church has the potential to put Manchester on the international art nouveau visitor trail.
Richard Fletcher delivered this afternoon’s Edgar Wood Society lecture on the subject of Lutyens in Lancashire.
It was a fascinating overview of Lutyens’ designs in the county, including his Grade I listed Rochdale Cenotaph and its cousin in Manchester. Rochdale also has the adjacent Post Office (but with an uncertain attribution) while Manchester has the impressive and definitely Lutyens Midland Bank, both white Portland stone buildings. Liverpool, on the other hand, has the huge crypt of Liverpool Cathedral which is just a fragment of the vast cathedral originally planned as Lutyens’ finest building. But it never came to be, apart for the large scale model now at Liverpool Museum (photo above by Mike Peel www.mikepeel.net ). Richard’s talk brought to the fore many interesting connections and anecdotes about people and buildings and how each linked into the wider historical scene.
Continue reading “‘Lutyens in Lancashire’ lecture by Richard Fletcher”
The fascination with Frank Lloyd Wright continues and a new Long Read article in the Independent outlines proposals for building one of his unbuilt designs in Somerset, a late work the O’Keefe House of 1947.
The Landmark Trust aims to raise £355,000 from the public in the next 12 months to save the Arts & Crafts Grade II* listed Winsford Cottage Hospital in Devon, which was designed by C. F. A. Voysey in his long low-lying architectural style.
The money will match a £487,000 grant offer from Heritage Lottery Fund. The trust has also received a lottery grant of £96,000 to develop the project. Full details are HERE on the trust’s website. Continue reading “On-line fund-raising to save Voysey’s Winsford Cottage Hospital”
Pink Art Deco mansion almost untouched since 1930s is for sale in Essex for £1.5m – a good description with photos of the Walter Crittall’s art deco home.
Edgar Wood Society members are currently researching the three pairs of semi-detached houses, 153-163 Manchester Old Road, Middleton and the people associated with them. Continue reading “Researching Edgar Wood’s first houses”
It’s gratifying when owners of Edgar Wood buildings show a deep concern for the heritage under their care and this is especially true for Greystoke, a Grade II listed building in Hale, Cheshire, which the Edgar Wood Society is currently assisting with through its chair, David Morris.
Greystoke is one of Edgar Wood’s seven Hale houses. These wonderful house designs trace Edgar’s style as it developed from vernacular inspired Arts and Crafts to the very first art deco architecture. Greystoke was built in 1902 and with nearby The Homestead represents his more expressionist arts and crafts manner.
The owner has liaised with the Edgar Wood historian and architect, John Archer, for many years and this shows in the quality of the work that has been done previously. The new works will involve restoring a series of lost features using old photographs and the society’s knowledge of related buildings and features.
Here is an interesting piece in The Scotsman on how the extensive wood carving associated with the restoration project is being undertaken by Latvian craftspeople.
The mission to resurrect the GSA’s Mackintosh library, by Dani Garavelli
Our fifth group of the season, the College of the 3rd Age, Crumpsall , visited the Church and School Rooms this morning and were welcomed on the steps by the tour guide of the day, Christine. Previous group visits include a group of fourteen led by Manchester Tour Guide Sibby, who is also a committee member of the EWS. Two groups of over twenty from the Oldham U3A members, a photographic group organised by Pride Media Arts and the Rochdale Circle. If you would like to organise a tour around the Church or the Golden Cluster buildings or Edgar Wood properties, get in touch via the artsandcraftschurch.org web site or tel. 0161 6530512
Will Mellor: an arts and crafts book artist24 April – 26 May 2017
In the Foyer, Sir Kenneth Green Library. Continues upstairs on the 3rd Floor of the library, in the Special Collections Reading Room.This exhibition will be closing before the end of the month. See it while you can!
Phone: +44(0)161 247 610
Fax: +44(0)161 247 6349
E-mail: lib-spec-coll@mmu.ac.uk
| Monday – Friday | 10.00 – 16.00 |
|---|---|
| Thursday | 10.00 – 19.00 (term time only) |
| Saturday | 12.00 – 16.00 (term time only) |
Continue reading “Will Mellor: an arts and crafts book artist – MMU Exhibition – ends 26th May”