Victoria Hall, Daniel Street, Ancoats

Opened on 30 September 1897 Victoria Hall stood in Daniel St, New Islington  described as "the densest, neediest, and seediest quarter of Ancoats.”  It was built on the site of Daniel Street Wesleyan Chapel, founded in 1835 and demolished in 1896 to make way for the new building. At the time the German Embassy selected it as the best illustration they knew of British architecture. The description included in the plans reads "the central portion of the front elevation is in half-timbered work, being a projecting gable, oriel windows and minstrel gallery and two towers which rise to 95 feet from ground level". A perspective drawing of the front elevation and a (caretaker’s?) house appeared in the The Forty-Second Annual Report of the Wesleyan Chapel Committee.   In 1907 the Building News featured the Victoria Hall and adjacent house in Ancoats also for the Methodists. The two 95 feet towers flank a central projecting gable with oriel windows in a composition which features half-timbered decorative details set against imposing stone towers. The lively decorative elements of the exterior would also have contrasted with the relative plainness of the interior of the hall.

WESLEYAN MISSION AND SCHOOLS IN ANCOATS - In connection with the Wesleyan Mission, which has its headquarters the Central Hall. Oldham-street, a new hall and schools are now being built in Daniel-street, Ancoats. The district was formerly known as the workshop of Manchester, and it is still one of the most densely populated portions of the City. For many years the Wesleyans had a chapel in Daniel street, but with the changed conditions of city life it shared the fate of so many other city chapels and churches, and became well-nigh deserted. Under these circumstances the building was taken over by the Rev  Dr Pope and his coadjutors at the Central Hall, and for seven years it has been worked with much success as a mission hall. The old building was, however, ill adapted for the new order; it is, therefore, being swept away, and in its stead there will shortly arise a new and commodious structure. We learn from the circular issued by Dr Pope and the Rev. S P Collier (superintendent of the Mission) that there are at present a  church membership of over 200 persons belonging to the working class and resident in the immediate neighbourhood, a congregation that filled the old building, a crowded Sunday school, and all the operations - social, religious, and educational - of an active mission church.  The hall is intended to seat from ten to twelve hundred people, the new schoolroom will accommodate about 1,000 children, and other rooms suitable for mission and social work will be provided. A gymnasium, it is understood, will also find a place in the new building.  The plans have been prepared by Mr W. R. Sharp, FMSA, and the building work is being done by Mr  John Ramsbottom. Yesterday the ceremony took place of laying the foundation-stones of the new hall and school. There was a large assemblage. The new premises would probably cost about £9,000, towards which sum about £5,000 had been promised.  …. The buildings have been designed in the Elizabethan style. The central portion of the front elevation is in half-timbered work. having projecting gable, oriel windows, and minstrel gallery. There are two towers at the right and left of the front elevation constructed of Doulton's buff terra cotta, and rising to a height, of 95 feet from the ground level. The roofs of the hall and towers will be covered with red tiles. [Manchester Guardian 25 June 1896 page 10]

THE VICTORIA HALL – The hall occupies an excellent position at the extreme end of Wesley Street Ancoats. It is of Elizabethan design. The central gable 40 feet wide is richly decorated in half-timber and plaster work, and relieved with numerous bay and oriel windows. There is also a minstrel gallery immediately over the main entrance giving a picturesque character to the building. The two towers, one on each side of the front façade, 18 feet square and rising to a height of 100 feet are in brick and Doultons terra-cotta, forming a relief to the more decorated part, and giving an air of stability and dignity to the whole. The interior has also been carried out in strict conformity to the same design. The roof and the walls are constructed in half-timber framing and plaster panels and panelled wainscoting in (illegible) wood, simply oiled so as not to disguise the grain of the wood. Some pleasing vistas are obtained in the main entrance hall and corridors, with seats in many corners, suggesting a homeliness not usual in public buildings of this kind. The lead glazing has been specially designed so as to be in perfect harmony with the interior. Primary colours and mediaeval forms of heraldry and devices have been introduced with pleasing effect. The building is an example of work that flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the arts and crafts were more closely associated with architecture, but it is believed that the people of Ancoats will appreciate and value the efforts of the Committee in thus providing them with so handsome a building. The accommodation consists of a large hall to seat 1,100 people, a schoolroom for 800 scholars, an infants’ room for 300, a gymnasium, ten classrooms, a band-room, etc. Since May last services have been held in the lower hall, a room built to accommodate 700 Sunday scholars. Last Sunday night that room was filled with working-class people from the immediate neighbourhood. No special advertising had been done and no special preacher engaged. It was an ordinary Sunday evening service conducted by the pastor; and already there is a good congregation to be transferred to the upper hall. While primary attention will be paid to strictly religious work, the social educational and physical needs of the district will also, as far as possible be looked after. [Manchester Guardian 30 September1897 page 4]

Reference    Manchester Guardian 16 May 1895 page 5
Reference    Manchester Guardian 25 June 1896 page 10 - foundation
Reference    Manchester Guardian 2 July 1897 page 9
Reference    Manchester Guardian 25 September 1897 page 5
Reference    Manchester Guardian 30 September1897 page 4
Reference    Manchester Guardian 1 October 1897 page 10 - opening
Reference    Angela Connelly: Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 89.1 page 118-119
Reference    Building News 16 August 1907 page 213 and 217
Reference    The Forty-Second Annual Report of the Wesleyan Chapel Committee. (London: Hayman Brothers and Lilly 1896) page 173