Ellen Wilkinson High School, Hyde Road, Manchester, Greater Manchester
The present Ellen Wilkinson High School was established as a bluecoat school called Nicholls Hospital by Benjamin Nicholls. It was built as a memorial to his son, John Aston Nicholls. He died in 1859 after a short life working with the poor in Ancoats. It was built in 1867-80 to the designs of Thomas Worthington. Nicholls commissioned Worthington to prepare designs in 1867 for a building to be constructed after his death, which came ten years later. It was Worthington's last major work in the city. The design is similar to the Police Courts he designed in Minshull Street, Manchester and his entry for the town hall competition. They were all worked on at about the same time. Like the Police Courts it is in a European Gothic style, of red brick with stone dressings.
