Manchester Municipal Technical School

THE finest block of schools in the country as regards size and quality of appointment is the Manchester School of Technology (opened this week by the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour), which owes much of its success to the enthusiastic and untiring efforts of its principal, Mr. J. H. Reynolds. It has some 6,000 evening students, we believe, and a continually increasing number of day students This great work is one of the most striking achievements of municipal enterprise, and has altogether cost the city of Manchester £300,000. Its progress will be watched with great interest by all well-wishers for the advancement of technical education. Its equipment is most admirable and complete, and it cannot fail to exercise the most beneficent and far-reaching influence on the great Lancashire industrial community. It is quite a pleasure to look over its splendidly furnished chemical laboratory, its weaving sheds, dye-house, brewing-house, etching rooms, printing department, etc. The building is enriched with a good deal of admirable decorative detail, even down to specially furniture, by the architects, Spalding & Cross, who have had the work in hand for some eight years past. [British Architect 17 October 1902 page 271]

THE MANCHESTER TECHNICAL SCHOOLS - The Municipal School Of Technology, Manchester, opened by the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. Arthur James Balfour, on Wednesday, October 15th, 1902, covers an oblong shaped plot of land containing an area of 6.400 yards, and forms a lofty structure of six storeys. The corridors on each floor are lighted from two spacious internal areas, whilst the whole of the class rooms and laboratories receive direct external light from the surrounding streets. The chief and practically only public entrance is in Sackville Street, leading a spacious central entrance hall 4,000 feet in area, and thence to the main entrance staircase, there being also two subsidiary staircases fitted with lifts to afford ready access to the rooms on each floor. On the left of the main entrance are the administrative offices comprising the general office, the principal's rooms and the council chamber, the remainder of the ground floor being allocated to the various class-rooms and laboratories connected with physics, textile work, and silk-weaving departments. The feature of the first floor is the large centrally placed examination and public hall, and adjoining it are library and reading-rooms, a room for scientific societies' meetings, laboratories, class and lecture rooms for physics and mechanical and sanitary engineering, and the professors' common room. The second floor contains spacious lecture and work-rooms in connection with the following subjects, viz — architecture, photographic and printing crafts, and electrical trades, a bakery students' common room, and a restaurant are also provided. The organic and inorganic chemical laboratories, the principal chemical lecture theatre, laboratories for metallurgy and brewing, and the wood-working and plumbing workshops, are placed upon the third floor, and, and upon the fourth floor there are special chemical and dyeing laboratories, workshops and classrooms for painting and decorative trades, a brew-house, and a well-equipped gymnasium.  The basement is one great workshop and laboratory for spinning and weaving, and mechanical electrical, steam, and hydraulic engineering.  The building, erected by Messrs. R. Neill & Sons, of Manchester, after the designs of Messrs Spalding & Cross is in French renaissance style of architecture. It is constructed of terra cotta, Accrington bricks, and is roofed with Tiberthwaite green slates, forms an imposing addition to the architecture of the city, and is, beyond question, the largest and best equipped School of Technology in the Kingdom.  In addition to the above great structure, the Corporation are now erecting, from the designs of Mr. A. W. S. Cross, M.A., FRIBA, a commodious dyeing, bleaching, printing, and finishing-house for textile goods, and for the manufacture, dyeing, and finishing of paper. This subsiduary building, upon a plot of land containing an area of 1,248, yards, immediately adjoins the main School of Technology. [British Architect vol 58 17 October 1902 page 284-285]

The Prime Minister yesterday opened the new Municipal School of Technology. Mr. Balfour aptly described the institution as " perhaps the greatest fruit of its kind of municipal enterprise in this country." That this high praise is fully deserved all who have had the opportunity of inspecting the school will admit. Externally, the building is one of the finest which Manchester possesses. It is an example of French Renaissance architecture, and not even its cramped position and its mean surroundings can altogether hide its beauty. Within, the school is equipped upon a scale commensurate with its importance and the prominent part which it is destined to play in the educational life of Greater Manchester. Experts from European countries and from the United States, who visit the school almost weekly agree that the general scheme and design of the structure are excellent. and the courses of instruction that have been mapped out are admirable. The institution, as Mr. J. H. Reynolds, the principal, has pointed out, is the direct successor of the old Mechanics' Institution, which was established in the early years of the century. But the magnificent School of Technology in Sackville- street bears little resemblance to the humble centre of training which, perforce, sufficed for the wants of past generations of Manchester men. The wide scope of the new school may be sufficiently indicated by a brief description of the accommodation provided in the building. Upon the ground door, in addition to the spacious hall and the administrative offices, are classrooms and laboratories connected with the physics and textile departments. The principal feature of the first floor is the large examination hall, in which Mr. Balfour spoke yesterday: and adjoining this are the library and reading-rooms, a room for scientific societies' meetings, laboratories, class and lecture rooms for electrical, mechanical, and sanitary engineering, and the lecturers' common-room. The second floor contains lecture-rooms and laboratories in connection with architecture, the photographic and printing crafts, and the electrical trades. An experimental bakery, students' common-room, and restaurant are also provided on this floor. The organic and inorganic chemical laboratories, the principal chemical lecture theatre, laboratories for metallurgy and brewing, and the wood-working and plumbing work-shops are placed upon the third floor; and on the fourth are the dyeing laboratories, an experimental brewhouse, and well-equipped gymnasium. There are in addition an observatory a house painting and decorating department, and rooms for bookbinding and lithographic drawing. The basement is practically great workshop and laboratory, where spinning and weaving, mechanical and electrical engineering will be carried on.

The school occupies an area of 6,400 yards and is six storeys high. It has cost nearly £300,000 and has been seven years in building. But even this huge structure has not proved sufficient to meet the technological requirements of Greater Manchester. For the accommodation of the textile industry a special department, adjoining the main building, is now in course of construction. In this will be provided a commodious dyeing, bleaching, printing, and finishing house for textile goods and for the manufacture, dyeing, and finishing of paper. This department will not be completed until January next.

Mr. Balfour's visit to the new school vas paid in state befitting the Prime Minister. He was escorted from the Queen's Hotel by the Lord Mayor, in a carriage drawn by four fine greys, and attended by mounted police. The Lord Mayor wore his robes and chain. Mr. Balfour, of course, was in morning dress. When the little procession reached the school Mr. Balfour was warmly greeted by a crowd of on-lookers—" the men in the street" - who had assembled to obtain a glimpse of our distinguished guest. Report continues with speeches etc. [Manchester Guardian 16 October 1902 page 8]

MANCHESTER TECHNICAL SCHOOL—The Manchester School of Technology has just been opened by Mr. Balfour. It has occupied seven years in the equipment and building, and a sum of £300,000 has been spent upon it. The building has been erected from the designs of Messrs. Spalding & Cross, London, by Messrs. R. Neill & Sons, Manchester. It is constructed of terra-cotta and Accrington brick in the French Renaissance style. In addition, a dyeing, bleaching, printing, and finishing house for textile goods, and for the manufacture, dyeing, and finishing of paper, is being erected close to the main building. The chief entrance is in Sackville- street, and beyond is a large entrance-hall, from which the main and two subsidiary staircases lead. The hall has an area of 4,000 sq. ft., and over it is an examination and lecture room, and over that again a chemical laboratory, both of corresponding size. The basement is a workshop for spinning and weaving, mechanical, steam, electrical, and hydraulic engineering, while elsewhere are other laboratories for instruction and research in other departments, for one purpose of the school is not only to give instruction, but to facilitate study and investigation. [Builder 25 October 1902 page 376]

Reference    Builder 25 October 1902 page 376

Manchester Guardian 25 October 1902 page 8

Reference    British Architect 17 October 1902 Page 284-285
Reference    British Architect 14 November 1902 and illustration
Reference    British Architect 14 November 1902 Page vi - Burmantofts Advert - terra cotta supplied