Long Street Methodist, Middleton, Manchester
The EWS were on hand in the men’s second class pool (now with floor) at the Heritage and History fair at the Victoria Baths, Hathersage Road. It was a good opportunity to engage with members of the public about EW and to meet other groups promoting their interests. After being closed for 24 years, if you would like a swim in the first class pool on Sunday 14 May then get your ticket by lunch on 14 April. Information is on the Victoria Baths web site.
A good audience gave a standing ovation at the conclusion of today’s performance by the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival Ensemble. The 8 young profession musicians, introduced by Richard Jeffcoat (curator) played items by, Hayden, Shostakovich and of course Mendelssohn’s octet.
This was a cultural treat and we would like to think that this could be the start of a lasting partnership.
Their next performance is in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh on Friday 21st April, why not pay a visit?
Twenty members of the EWS were given a warm welcome to Briarcourt on a sunny afternoon today. The purpose of the visit was to see the progress of the work that Vicky and Duncan are making in restoring this grand house designed and built in 1895 by EW for his cousin Herbert Higginson Sykes, a wedding present from the Sykes family. This gave EW his first opportunity to build in Huddersfield.
The house is in the style of a Yorkshire Jacobean manor. It is imposing externally, with its fine porch, deep bay windows and multiple gables. Internally, stained glass, decorative plaster work and painted a frieze in the morning room by Middleton artist Frederick Jackson. The frieze has been recently restored and one of the main reasons for the visit. A big thank you to Vicky and Duncan for the privilege of viewing their progress so far and their warm welcome.
The exhibition created and researched by Nick Baker and Richard Fletcher has at last been reproduced on permanent display boards and was arranged today by Ian with the help of Christine and Kirstie. Kirstie by profession is a Graphics Designer and we are grateful for the work she has done in creating the excellent visual impact of the boards. We are fortunate to have Kirstie on the committee team. You must come and have a look, we are open tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday as well as Tuesday and Friday throughout September.
A stitch in time saves nine!
Nine enrolled for the first of our embroidery classes at the Arts and Crafts Church. This was a taster for what we hope will become a regular event in 2017.
Helen Jones, who also runs courses at Hampton Court had maximum attention from the group and concentration was 100 %.
As the workshop progressed hardly a word was spoken by the group of ladies, proof of their concentration. A successful event in every way and thoroughly enjoyed by all participants.
Members of the EWS and friends had an excellent day out visiting St.Martin’s at Marple Bridge, St. Mary the Virgin at Buxton, the museum and various delights around the Pavilion Gardens. Thank you to Anthony from St. Martin’s and Eric at St. Mary’s for showing us around and our own Nick Baker for his expert commentary at the venues.
Images show: Stained glass by George Wragg at Buxton Museum. Part of the rood screen
at St.mary’s. Lady Chapel ceiling and door handle at St. martin’s, work by Sedding and Henry Wilson. 
The Edgar Wood Society, Arts & Crafts study group is back at work after a month off. We have two new members, Victoria, an archaeologist and Arts & Crafts specialist, and Veronica, an art historian studying stained glass conservation.
We have several projects on the go including…
Edgar Wood’s Middleton home, Redcroft (1891), is been painstakingly restored as part of the Heritage Lottery Fund THI scheme run by the Council and Middleton Heritage. The work is being overseen by conservation surveyors Alan Gardner and Rupert Hilton under the watchful eye of the Council’s conservation officer, Sue Oakley, and is being funded by a large grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund THI.
The scaffolding finally came down last week and while the perimeter wall, gate and other details still have to be finished off, the result was photographed by the Edgar Wood Society to get the good news out.
Still to come is the restoration of Edgar Wood’s carved Arts & Crafts motif over the restored gateway. Interestingly, this had ‘Mackintosh style’ lettering even though it was designed by Edgar Wood several years before Charles Rennie Mackintosh had got going (he was eight years younger than Wood). Many historians believe that Mackintosh knew Edgar Wood as they shared quite a few design ideas. The motif suggests Mackintosh visited Wood at Redcroft on one of his trips to Manchester.
Redcroft was built in 1891 at a time when the young Edgar Wood loved the combination of strong red or orange colours set against bright white. He also painted timber and metal details white, in complete opposition to the usual Victorian dark greens and browns. Edgar Wood’s intentions are been faithfully restored in the restoration using historic photographs and the expert knowledge of the Edgar Wood Society. However, a sense of the passing of time is also being kept, for example by not cleaning the brickwork and by keeping the modern iron railings. The result is an orange and white Arts & Crafts house that brightens up the street scene of the conservation area!
Redcroft and its neighbour, Fencegate, were the first of a new breed of Arts and Crafts semis which combined red brick and white render with a cottage feel. The style quickly caught on and subsequently dominated much of twentieth century house design. The influence of Redcroft and Fencegate can be seen in many buildings across Middleton and the Manchester region.
Edgar Wood lived at Redcroft for 24 years before moving to Hale, Trafford where he built his second home, the pioneering art deco, Royd House. However, before he did so, he gave Redcroft an art deco touch by redesigning the front garden and replacing the perimeter fencing with limestone blocks which were lowered in the centre to set off a remarkable art deco sculpture, which is now unfortunately lost. However, it is recorded in Edgar Wood’s painting of his front garden. In these two houses, Redcroft and Royd House, Edgar Wood used the design of his own home to set national and international trends in house design.
The restoration of Redcroft will complete the restoration of the pair, since Fencegate was restored in the 1990s, a project that involved completely rebuilding the house because of subsidence!
Redcroft and Fencegate belong to Middleton’s core of six Edgar Wood buildings which show how modern architecture emerged from historical Victorian styles (see extract from Manchester University paper opposite). This group is of international significance. With Redcroft and Fencegate restored, attention is now moving to some of the others, especially the neighbouring semi of 1892, originally called Briarhill. This was Edgar Wood’s first building to be published in the United States of America! The two pairs of orange-red semis set each other off perfectly. When seen together from the south, the houses form an expressive twosome, the larger red building acting as a backdrop to the smaller white one.
A collection of documents and photographs about Edgar Wood’s Arkholme, 1 Towncroft Avenue formerly belonging to the Taylor family is to go to the Edgar Wood Middleton archive, thanks to historian Geoff Wellens.
The collection is a crucial source of information on what is Edgar Wood’s very first flat roofed design. It was erected in 1901 a year or two before he met J. Henry Sellers, with whom he was to pioneer art deco design.
The material includes photographs of the house as it was in the days of its first occupant, Edgar Wood’s friend Charles Jackson, brother of painter Fredrick Jackson, before it was (sensitively) altered in the 1950s by the Taylor family. It also has images of Towncroft Avenue being widened, letters and invoices from tradespeople who worked on the house.
The Edgar Wood archive is managed by the Society curator Nick Baker.
This exhibition about the last 150 years of the Manchester Architects Society has been running since December 2015 but closes on 18th March 2016 – so don’t miss it!
OPENING TIMES – FREE ADMISSION
Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm
Thursday 10am – 7pm (term-time only)
Saturday 12noon – 4pm (term-time only)
Location – Special Collections Exhibition Space, 3rd Floor, Sir Kenneth Green Library, MMU, All Saints, Manchester – M15 6BH (contact details below)
‘We built this city’ profiles architectural drawings of key members of the Manchester Society of Architects alongside the historic Library collection, promoting the rich architectural history of Manchester.
The exhibition charts the influence of the Society on the cityscape and architectural design in Greater Manchester through original drawings. It reveals the personalities behind the Society, connecting the city with a distinguished lineage of architects, such as founders Alfred Waterhouse and Thomas Worthington. Drawings by Edgar Wood and James Henry Sellers will profile their key works in the city. The exhibition explores the establishment of the Society’s education programme, innovations in building technology, and influence on Town Planning and Conservation.
Rare folios from the Manchester Society of Architects Library at MMU Special Collections show the wealth of material on offer to members who frequented the Society’s rooms. The Library was created as a teaching tool for students and practitioners to further their understanding of architecture. Highlights include: W and G Audsley’s Polychromatic decoration, 1881; Owen Jones’ Plans, sections and details of the Alhambra, 1842; William Kent’s The design of Inigo Jones, 1770; Palladio’s The four books of Architecture, 1738; Piranesi’s Opera, 1762; and Stuart and Revett’s Antiquities of Athens, 1762-1816.
The exhibition is part of a programme celebrating 150 years of Manchester Architects:
www.the-msa.co.uk
MMU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS GALLERY
3rd Floor, Sir Kenneth Green Library, Manchester
Metropolitan University, All Saints, Manchester, M15 6BH
0161 247 6107 • lib-spec-coll@mmu.ac.uk
@MMUSpecial • www.specialcollections.mmu.ac.uk
When entering the library please report to the main library desk for access through the security gates. Turn left and take the lift to the 3rd floor. The Special Collections is on the right when exiting the lift.
South Hale Conservation Area in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford includes a series of eight Edgar Wood designed detached houses, all closely located to one another. Each house is a highly individual Arts & Crafts design which, taken together, makes for one of the finest groups of Arts & Crafts houses by a single architect in the country. Each house design evolves from its predecessor and the group is remarkable in illustrating how Edgar Wood developed modern art deco architecture from the Arts and Crafts.The earliest house is Halecroft, built as an Arts & Crafts ‘tour de force’ in 1890 early in Edgar Wood’s career. Then come six houses built between 1901 and 1907, at roughly one a year, which incrementally move toward the art deco style. Finally, the amazing Royd House (pictured above) was designed in 1914, which Edgar Wood built for himself when he left Middleton at the end of the First World War.
All the houses are listed Grade II, except for Halecroft which is Grade II* and Royd House which is Grade I.
The Edgar Wood Society is writing an appreciation of the houses for Trafford Council town planners which, hopefully, will inform the management plan for the conservation area. If you have any information, photos or contacts regarding these buildings, please let us know, we would be very grateful – just Leave a Reply below and we’ll get back to you. Thanks, David.
Under the title of ‘New Life Planned for Towns Historic Old Labour Club‘, Middleton Guardian reports that a new application to convert the building is being considered by Rochdale Council Planning Committee on Thursday 28th.
Milton Street is the only listed Independent Labour Club in the country and was designed by Edgar Wood.
The Edgar Wood Society, which successfully asked for the building to be listed by English Heritage, is mystified by the announcement as it has had no recent consultation on the building, despite making detailed comments on an earlier scheme. Let’s hope any scheme is sensitive the this unique building.
UPDATE: The scheme was approved with conditions and the Council report (in Agenda Reports Pack) can be downloaded HERE
Alkrington Garden Village was a world pioneer in garden city planning and whether parts of it should be made a conservation area have been mooted a few times in recent years, especially among heritage enthusiasts.
Middletonians are not the only ones looking at such places and a street in Cambridge is now pressing ahead to get conservation area status after an initiative by its residents.
Compare the photos of the street in Cambridge to Alkrington’s streets. You may be surprised at how well Manchester New Road, Alkrington Green, Mount Road (pictured) and the two crescents compare to the Cambridge street. Which is better? You be the judge! Click Here to View the report and photos.
The building was broken into between Sunday lunch time and Monday morning, January 3-4th. Fortunately nothing was stolen and the intruders did not manage to get into the adjacent Arts & Crafts Church. A lot of damage was done as they forced open internal doors. Emergency repairs had to be made to secure the premises.
