A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



west side of the open space (playground), south of the 

 hospital buildings, from the design of Mr. Alfred 

 Waterhouse. 



The original foundation was for forty boys, but as 

 the endowment became more productive the number 

 was gradually increased till loo was reached. Lately, 

 however, in consequence of the decline in the value 

 of land and the increased cost of education the foun- 

 dation boys have numbered only seventy-five. 



The growth of the town has caused the destruction 

 of nearly all the old gabled timber-and-plaster houses 

 which were characteristic of Manchester streets at 

 the beginning of the 19th century. Up to 1822, 

 when the first widening took place, Market Street was 

 chiefly composed of houses of this description, erected 

 mostly in the 17th century, with here and there a 

 later 18th-century brick building. One or two of 

 such timber houses still remain, however, notably that 

 in Long Millgate, formerly the Sun Inn, but now 

 known as ' Poets' Corner,' which bears outside the 

 date 1647 and the initials w^f ; and the Seven Stars 



have been turned into offices or even common 

 lodging-houses. These houses, plain in detail but 

 of good proportion, generally have well-designed 

 doorways, and often contain fittings belonging to 

 better days. 



Of the many handsome buildings which Man- 

 chester possesses the majority are either civic or 

 commercial, but as a rule they are seen to less 

 advantage than in most towns of similar size owing 

 in a large measure to a certain lack of plan in the 

 city itself, which is very wanting in wide and open 

 spaces." The atmosphere of the city, also, which 

 turns all stone black in the course of a few years, is 

 antagonistic to architectural work of the best kind. 



The older public buildings of modern Manchester 

 belong to the classic style, and are exemplified in the 

 old Town Hall in King Street, now the Free 

 Reference Library (F. Goodwin, architect, 1825), a 

 characteristic specimen of the Greek Ionic of the 

 period ; the Royal Institution, now the City Art 

 Gallery, in Mosley Street (Sir Charles Barry, archi- 



The Seven 



Inn, Withy Grove, which preserves its old timber gable 

 to the street. Further up, in Shudehill, the Rover's 

 Return Inn '" also retains an old gable, but the front 

 has been modernized by the insertion of a large bay 

 window on both floors. In the Market Place, at the 

 corner of the Shambles, is a picturesque old timber 

 house with a gable on each elevation, now completely 

 overshadowed by adjoining buildings. 



A fair number of good 18th-century brick houses 

 yet remain, more especially in the district between 

 Deansgate and the River Irwell,"'' many of them in 

 the vicinity of St. John's Church being little altered 

 and still used as residences, but in other parts less 

 removed from the business centre of the town they 



tect, 1823), a fine design in which the same order is 

 used, but with more refinement ; the Athenaeum (Sir 

 Charles Barry, architect, 1838) in Princess Street, a 

 broad, simple and refined building now grievously 

 damaged by the addition of a high attic with slate 

 roof; and the Bank of England in King Street 

 (C. R. Cockerell, architect, 1846), a heavy specimen 

 of mixed Greek and Roman Doric. 



To this period also belonged the old Royal In- 

 firmary in Piccadilly (R. Lane, architect), in which 

 the Ionic order was used in the portico."^ The build- 

 ing occupied the finest site in Manchester, and despite 

 its lack of architectural distinction, had a certain 

 monumental quality that gave scale and dignity to 



1** The * Rover's Return * is said to have 

 formed a portion either of Withingreave 

 Hall or of one of its outbuildings, 



lOa There are also some good houses of 

 this description in Marsden Square, Can- 

 non Street, and vicinity, now turned into 

 offices and business premises, and outside 

 the township in Ardwick Square. 



" Piccadilly is an exception, but no 

 adequate architectural advantage has as 

 yet been taken of it. Albert Square, a 

 new creation to show off the Town Hall, 

 is not large enough for the purpose for 

 which it was designed. 



228 



"» The original Infirmary building wa» 

 erected in 1755, ^'^^ consisted of a central 

 block flanked by two small wings. After 

 several additions and extensions a new 

 front was added in 1832. The dome was 

 a later addition, in 1853. 



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