Summary
Textile warehouse of 1868, with repair after the Second World War and C20 alterations. Venetian Gothic style.
Reasons for Designation
3 St Mary’s Parsonage, a textile warehouse of 1868 by Clegg and Knowles with repair after the Second World War and C20 alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* notwithstanding the substitution of the original roof for a mansard form after bomb-damage sustained during the Second World War, a good example of the Venetian Gothic style, by notable local architecture practice Clegg and Knowles, a key proponent of the Palazzo style of warehouse;
* retaining some original historic internal structure despite substantial intervention after the Second World War, and retaining some original decorative cast-iron railings to the basement windows, and decorative joinery at the entrance.
Group value:
* with the adjacent Grade II-listed 31 and 33 King Street West.
History
This textile warehouse was designed by the prominent Manchester firm of Clegg and Knowles in 1868, with a cross-wall facilitating subdivision. It was originally of three storeys plus a basement. The Goad fire insurance plan of 1886 shows it in use as a calico warehouse, with hoists in the south-west corner and in the centre, offices on the first floor in the north-east corner (accessible from the south end via an opening in the crosswall), and glazed timber partitions enclosing the north-west corner. By 1901 the north-west corner was a yarn warehouse (separately numbered 5 St Mary’s Parsonage) and the north-east a shipping warehouse, with the opening in the crosswall blocked and a separate calico warehouse in the south end. By 1917 however the hoist in the south-west corner had been removed and openings made through the cross-wall at all floors, suggesting use by a single firm. By 1936 the whole building was a shipping warehouse, possibly with some additional space in the roof, with a hoist restored to the south-west corner and the crosswall removed.
Following a near-miss from a high-explosive bomb during Manchester’s blitz, further alterations were made. Perimeter chimney stacks were removed and the roof structure replaced, now in a mansard form providing an extra floor, and some of the external entrances were blocked. It also appears likely that some of the interior structure was replaced, leaving limited numbers of cast-iron columns and timber floors (mainly visible on the lower floors), probably supplemented by steel. In 1962 the building was noted as being in use for government offices, and in 1970 it was occupied by the Textile Council. Minor alterations have been made in the C21, including the installation of the first-floor link to 31 and 33 King Street West (National Heritage List for England entry 1282988).
Details
Textile warehouse of 1868, by Clegg and Knowles, with alterations. Venetian Gothic style.
MATERIALS: red brick with pressed-brick and buff sandstone dressings, blue slate roof.
PLAN: trapezoid.
EXTERIOR: prominently-sited on a corner of St Mary’s Parsonage in the Parsonage Gardens Conservation Area and somewhat overshadowed by the multi-storey car park to the east, but complemented by 31 and 33 King Street West (including the carriage workshop to the rear and warehouse at 3 Smithy Lane), to which it is currently (2020) linked by a short bridge (not included in the listing).
Three storeys tall over a basement, with an added floor in the mansard roof. The main front faces north, a six-bay facade with stone plinth, sill-bands to all floors, and projecting cornice on brick brackets. Stone-shouldered gauged-brick, flat-arched basement windows are protected by decorative railings (with modern replacement railings in bays 2 and 4). The ground-floor openings form an arcade, all round-headed with pointed-arched extradoses and hood-moulds, and linking carved imposts. The centre two have stone arches and the others are stone-and-brick-banded, but all have incised decoration on the stone. Bay 3 is the entrance, the others are four-pane sashes. There are raised brick roundels in the spandrels and a Lombard frieze over the whole. The first and second floors are entirely of brick but in similar style, except that the first-floor windows are segmental-headed with segmental-pointed extradoses, and sashed without glazing bars, and the second floor lacks the roundels. The mansard roof has five irregularly-spaced attic windows.
The ten-bay east façade is similar, but all in brick except for the sill bands and the ground-floor surround to a former entrance in bay 3. The first five basement windows are blocked, there is a blocked later former entrance in bay 6, and bay 8 has a brick bunker. Bays 7 and 9 retain original railings. At the left the bridge link to 31 and 33 King Street West is visible.
The west and south façades are plainer with stone sill-bands, brick eaves-band and plain stone parapet coping without cornice. Windows have stepped brick surrounds and are segmental-arched, mostly timber sashes with panes as per the north and east. The west façade is shorter than the east and of eight bays. Bay 3 has a former entrance, now blocked and with a window; bay 6 has an entrance in a former window, and bay 7 has a blocked entrance, with blocked stair lights to the ground and first floors, and a brick tower in the roof. The south is similar and of six bays. The bridge link (not included in the listing) is at first-floor level in bay 5, of glass and steel. Bay 4 has a blocked entrance.
INTERIOR: the entrance retains skirting and stair handrails, and cast-iron columns are visible in the ground floor and basement. Interior fittings are modern with suspended ceilings. The stair is post-war with blonde woodwork.
