Nottingham Mechanics' Institution | |
---|---|
Building of 1844 from the Illustrated London News of 9 March 1844 | |
General information | |
Town or city | Nottingham |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 52°57′24″N1°08′56″W / 52.95658°N 1.14895°W Coordinates: 52°57′24″N1°08′56″W / 52.95658°N 1.14895°W |
Completed | 1845 |
Renovated | 1869 |
Demolished | 2005 |
The Nottingham Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1837 in Nottingham to improve the knowledge of working men with classes and lectures, the provision of libraries, performances of music, drama and readings, and through social contact with a good cross-section of the better educated members of the community.
In 1837, John Smith Wright of the Nottingham banking family, decided to form the Mechanics' Institute, modelled on the institutes which were becoming commonplace in other locations in the country.[ citation needed ]
In October 1837 a meeting was held in the Town Hall at Weekday Cross [1] at which 490 supporters put their names towards the scheme.[ citation needed ]
The Institute rented premises at 17 St. James's Street from 1837 to 1845. The committee appointed John Porchett as the Librarian at a yearly salary of 12 guineas (equivalent to £1,153in 2019). One of the first attractions of membership was free admission to body dissections at Nottingham General Hospital.
In 1840, the Institution held the first ever art exhibition in Nottingham which in just 5 months attracted 224,000 visitors. The receipts from admission charges was £2,996 (equivalent to £272,507in 2019).[ citation needed ]
On 28 January 1845, the Institution opened its own Mechanics' Hall on Milton Street. The architects of the building were Robert Jalland [2] and Thomas Hawksley of Middle Pavement. [3] By this stage the library of the Institution contained some 40,000 volumes.[ citation needed ]
Charles Dickens appeared at the Mechanics' Institute on 21 October 1858 and read his Christmas Carol. [4]
A fire on 14 March 1867 caused much damage, including the loss of the organ which had been installed in 1847. The Institute claimed £3,950 (equivalent to £352,333in 2019) on the insurance. £2,200 (equivalent to £196,236in 2019) was paid off the mortgage on the building, and a public appeal raised £2,579 (equivalent to £230,042in 2019).[ citation needed ]
A new hall with double the seating capacity of the old hall was designed by Thomas Simpson and opened on 19 January 1869. [ citation needed ]
In 1912 the adjacent Mansfield Road Baptist Church was purchased and converted into a lecture hall.[ citation needed ]
In 1964 the Mechanics' Institution decided to redevelop the building on the same site. The new building was called Birkbeck House and cost around £750,000 (equivalent to £15,310,455in 2019). The Mechanics' used the first floor and rented out the rest of the building to tenants. At the opening in April 1966 the Mechanics was described thus: "It has survived because it has adapted itself to changing circumstances in this modern age and has at the same time preserved all the best traditions of the past".[ citation needed ]
Facilities provided included: the Members' Lounge, Restaurant, Buttery (Members' Bar), Library & Quiet Room, Billiard Room, Card Room, Chess Room and Activities Room.[ citation needed ]
In 2003 the Mechanics' Institution moved again to a new home on North Sherwood Street, and Birkbeck House was demolished and the site used for retail and housing.[ citation needed ]
A specification of the pipe organ, built by Henry Bevington, can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.[ citation needed ]
Many of Nottingham's institutions had their origins in the Mechanics' Institute, including University College which later became the University of Nottingham, the Wollaton Hall Natural History Museum, the Operatic Society, The Photographic Society, the Nottingham Harmonic Society, and other clubs for cycling, rambling, gymnastics and chess.
Mechanics' institutes are educational establishments, originally formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men. Similar organisations are sometimes simply called "institutes". As such, they were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees. The mechanics' institutes were used as "libraries" for the adult working class, and provided them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs.
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' Institute by its founder, Sir George Birkbeck, and its supporters, Jeremy Bentham, J. C. Hobhouse and Henry Brougham, Birkbeck is one of the few universities to specialise in evening higher education in the United Kingdom.
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a concert hall in Hope Street, in Liverpool, England. It is the home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is not the original concert hall on the present site; its predecessor was destroyed by fire in 1933 and the present hall was opened in 1939.
The Mechanics' Institute Library and Chess Room is a historic membership library, cultural event center, and chess club in the Financial District of San Francisco, in the U.S. state of California at 57 Post Street. Founded in 1854 to serve the vocational needs of out-of-work gold miners, the institute today serves readers, writers, downtown employees, students, film lovers, chess players, and others.
Cuthbert Brodrick FRIBA was a British architect, whose most famous building is Leeds Town Hall.
Freemasons' Hall in London is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and the Supreme Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of England, as well as being a meeting place for many Masonic Lodges in the London area. It is located in Great Queen Street between Holborn and Covent Garden and has been a Masonic meeting place since 1775. There have been three Masonic buildings on the site, with the current incarnation being opened in 1933..
The Reverend Robert Willis was an English academic. He was the first Cambridge professor to win widespread recognition as a mechanical engineer, and first set the scientific study of vowels on a respectable foundation. He is now best remembered for his extensive architectural writings, including a four-volume treatise on the architecture of the University of Cambridge. He was described by Pevsner as "the greatest English architectural historian of the 19th century".
The Carnegie Library is in Egerton Street, Runcorn, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building and "possesses special architectural and historic interest within a national context". It was built in 1906 as an extension to Waterloo House and the existing library with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, and closed in 2012.
The Bradford Mechanics' Institute Library was established in 1832 as part of a national initiative to provide adult education especially in technical subjects for working men. The institute in Bradford was supported by James Hanson and for over 70 years played a leading role in adult education.
The Mechanics' Institute, 103 Princess Street, Manchester, is notable as the building in which three significant British institutions were founded: the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). In the 1960s it was occupied by the Manchester College of Commerce. It has been a Grade II* listed building since 11 May 1972.
The Derby Exhibition of 1839 was the first exhibition in Derby. It was held at the town's Mechanics' Institute, which later became known as Albert Hall. The exhibition was in line with the founding values of the Institute, which were to extend the spread of knowledge among the people of Derby. The institute had organized a wide range of events since 1825, including lectures, concerts, and displays. The exhibition followed the first such organised by Manchester Mechanics Institute in 1837 and Derby's was one of several that were organised that year in English industrial towns and cities. Derby's exhibition had a profound impact and was one of the factors leading to the foundation of the Museum and Library in 1878. Derby Museum and Art Gallery, which is next door to what was the Mechanics Institute building, now holds many of the objects from the exhibition.
Old Ipswich Town Hall is a heritage-listed former town hall at 116 Brisbane Street, Ipswich, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by James Percy Owen Cowlishaw and built from 1861 to 1879. It is also known as Mechanics School of Arts and the School of Arts. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA) is the longest running School of Arts and the oldest continuous lending library in Australia.
Mansfield Road Baptist Church is at the junction of Gregory Boulevard and Sherwood Rise in Nottingham.
Broad Street Wesleyan Chapel was a former Methodist chapel in Nottingham from 1839 to 1954. The building is now occupied by the Broadway Cinema.
Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College or GMMMC in short is the sixth public sector Medical college under the Government of Sindh where 100 meritorious students of tagged districts, including Sukkur, Khairpur and Ghotki are getting education every year. It is named after Sindh politician Ghulam Muhammad Khan Mahar.
Samuel Groves was a British organ builder based in London.
Thomas Field Gibson FGS was a Unitarian silk manufacturer and philanthropist. He supported several novel initiatives to enhance British manufacturing quality and international trade while improving life for working people during the industrial revolution – particularly in Spitalfields where his business was centred. He also made important contributions to geology.
The Sydney School of Arts building, now the Arthouse Hotel, is a heritage-listed meeting place, restaurant and bar, and former mechanics' institute, located at 275-277a Pitt Street in the Sydney central business district in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John Verge and built from 1830 to 1861. It is also known as Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The Lincoln Mechanics' Institute or Lincoln and Lincolnshire Mechanics' Institute was founded in Lincoln, England in 1833. It was one of the many Mechanics' institutes which sprang up in the early 19th century and was the first Mechanics' Institute to be founded in Lincolnshire.