Blackburn Technical School

BLACKBURN TECHNICAL SCHOOL - The building is to be of brick, with facings in buff and red terra cotta. Terra cotta is taking the place of stone as more suitable for the murky air of Blackburn. The style of the structure is Classical, treated with a free hand. The architects are Messrs Smith Woodhouse and Willoughby, Manchester. The plans were only decided upon a day or two ago, and as a consequence the stone the Prince of Wales is to set in its place will be in a more literal sense than usual a foundation stone. The building is to occupy a triangular piece of ground at the point where Nab Lane meets Blakey Moor, a site which will give its handsome lines their full effect. But if the building is handsome, it is also admirably fitted for its work. Light and ventilation have been the first consideration, and hence the large windows divided by mullions and transoms. To permit the light to get well into the rooms the windows are square at the top and go close to the ceiling. The tower it is usual to put on buildings of this character has been omitted as extravagant and unnecessary.  The basement contains a textile lecture theatre seated for 200 students; the trade classrooms and also the weaving and engineering sheds. The sheds are about 30 feet square. The engines and boilers to supply power are in a sub-basement. All the rooms in the basement have abundant light. The principal entrance on the ground floor is approached by a broad flight of stone steps. This floor has four large classrooms for subjects connected with physics, six for commercial subjects besides rooms for cookery classes. A fine reception room, with a panelled dado and a ribbed plaster ceiling, is also included on the ground floor. The whole of the next flat is devoted to chemistry if we include the dye house. The laboratory has accommodation for sixty students and the lecture room for 280. The dye-house is spacious, and has a lofty open-timbered roof. The second floor is given up to art. To avoid cross lights, the lighting in the rooms on this floor is effected from the roof. The art department includes an elementary drawing room an antique room and a designers’ classroom. [Manchester Guardian 4 May 1888 page 8]

Reference           Manchester Guardian 4 May 1888 page 8 with illustration