Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building, Manchester

The Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building (subsequently Churchgate House) at No. 56 Oxford Street, in Manchester, England, is a late Victorian warehouse and office block built in a neo-Baroque style for Tootal Broadhurst Lee, a firm of textile manufacturers. It was designed by J. Gibbons Sankey and constructed between 1896 and 1898.[1] It has been designated a Grade II* listed building.[2]

Churchgate and Lee House
Churchgate and Lee House
Location within Greater Manchester
Former namesTootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building
General information
TypeCommercial Office
Town or cityManchester
CountryEngland
Coordinates53.4752°N 2.2422°W / 53.4752; -2.2422
Construction started1896
Inaugurated1898
Renovated2015
OwnerHelical Bar PLC
Technical details
Floor count6
Design and construction
ArchitectJ. Gibbons Sankey
Main contractorCapital Properties (UK) Ltd

Nikolaus Pevsner's The Buildings of England describes the warehouse as "large, in red brick stripped with orange terracotta, but comparatively classical".[1] It has a "massive central round-headed doorway with banded surround and cartouche dated 1896, set in (an) architrave of coupled banded columns and (a) broken pediment".[2]

The interior has been redesigned, but a First World War memorial by Henry Sellers has been retained, being "marble, with a niche from which the figure (has been) stolen".[3]

Behind it and not visible from the street is Lee House, the stub of what would have been the tallest building in Europe at 217 ft., a 17-storey warehouse of the same firm (planned 1928; part completed 1931).[4] Both Churchgate House and Lee House are on the north bank of the Rochdale Canal; Great Bridgewater Street is immediately to the north of them.

See also

Notes
  1. The Buildings of England: Lancashire- Manchester and the South East, p. 321
  2. Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building 56 - Manchester - Greater Manchester - England | British Listed Buildings
  3. Pevsner Architectural Guides: Manchester, p. 182
  4. Sharp, Dennis, et al. (1969) Manchester. London: Studio Vista; p. 33

References

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