The Fletcher Moss Almshouses, Manchester

This drawing, recently exhibited at this year's Royal Academy, was prepared before the war for Mr. Fletcher Moss, J. P., the author of "Pilgrimages to Old Homes " and other works. The view illustrates the entrance front, overlooking the main highway. The home has been designed with separate rooms for residents, communicating with a central hall, and is for the accommodation of poor gentlefolk. Mr John Swarbrick, FRIBA, is the architect.

Fletcher Moss wanted the building to resemble his ancestral home, Standon Hall, near Eccleshall in Staffordshire in style. Two sites were proposed – both in the grounds of Moss's house in Didsbury, The Old Parsonage on Stennor Lane. The first location was to the west of the Parsonage and facing south; the second location faced the main road to the east and would have involved the demolition of the Old Cock Inn.

Both Fletcher Moss and John Swarbrick's father Joseph. were Withington councillors and shared similar political views. John Swarbrick was the executor of Moss’s will and was responsible for publishing the final volume of Moss’s Pilgrimages to Old Homes after his death in 1919. Unfortunately, the value of the estate after death duties was not sufficient to fund the project, and the alms-houses were never built. - Richard Fletcher

Reference    Works by John Swarbrick listed in his FRIBA nomination paper, 11 December 1918
Reference    Building News 19 September 1919 Page 238 and illustration