Queen Victoria Memorial Nurses’ Home, Sparrow Hill, Rochdale

THE QUEEN VICTORIA MEMORIAL AT ROCHDALE — The Rochdale Queen Victoria Memorial Committee have accepted the plans sent in by Messrs Woodhouse & Willoughby, of Manchester, for the erection of a new nurses’ home on the site of the Grammar School, Sparrow Hill. The Committee offered premiums for the best set of plans and designs. Nine sets were sent in. In deciding upon them the Committee have had the assistance of Mr. H. Littler, of Preston, the county architect, as assessor. Messrs. Woodhouse & Willoughby were awarded the first place, and their plans have been adopted. A premium of 20 guineas for the second best set was awarded to Mr. Jesse Horsfall, of Todmorden, and that of 10 guineas for the third to Messrs. Butterworth & Duncan, of Rochdale. [Builder 25 April 1903 page 434]

ROCHDALE - This afternoon the Countess of Derby will open a new Nurses’ Home in Rochdale, built as a memorial of Queen Victoria. The home stands on an excellent site, formerly occupied by the Grammar School on the hill overlooking the Town Hall. This gives an uninterrupted view over the park and town square, the main front facing the south. The building is faced with Huncoat plastic bricks, relieved with polished stone dressings from Stancliffe Quarry, Darley Dale. The roofs are tiled. It is fitted throughout for electric lighting. The floors are boarded, with the exception of the entrance hall and a portion of the corridor on the ground floor, which will be done in oakwood block flooring. Messrs Woodhouse Willoughby and Langham of Manchester are the architects. [Manchester Guardian 15 October 1904 page 6 abridged]

Reference           Manchester Guardian 15 October 1904 page6 with illustration