Owens Park

Last updated

Owens Park
Tower Block, Owens Park, Manchester.jpg
Owens Park Tower Block in 1985
General information
Address293 Wilmslow Road, Fallowfield, Manchester
Coordinates 53°26′42″N2°13′02″W / 53.44500°N 2.21722°W / 53.44500; -2.21722 Coordinates: 53°26′42″N2°13′02″W / 53.44500°N 2.21722°W / 53.44500; -2.21722
Construction started1964
Completed1966
Owner University of Manchester
Height61 metres (200 ft)
Technical details
Floor count19
Design and construction
Architect Building Design Partnership
References
[1] [2]

Owens Park was a large hall of residence located in the Fallowfield district of the city of Manchester, England. The site is owned by the University of Manchester and housed 1,056 students. Owens Park is a significant part of the Fallowfield Campus of the University of Manchester. The terms 'Owens Park' and 'Fallowfield Campus' are sometimes used interchangeably.

Contents

History

The hall, designed by Building Design Partnership, [1] and built in 1964–66, is most notable for its 61-metre-high (200 ft) tower, [3] which is a local landmark. It has a fibreglass relief, Cosmos I, by Mitzi Cunliffe, at the base. [1]

A 2001 plan by the University of Manchester to demolish the tower in 2004 [4] was subsequently abandoned as a result of protests by current and past residents. In 2005 a refurbishment programme was planned. It was announced in 2014 that Owens Park is due to be demolished as part of the plans to redevelop the Fallowfield Campus with brand new student accommodation. [5]

In 2021, the halls closed as part of a wider ongoing regeneration of the Fallowfield Campus, with the halls delisted for incoming students beginning that year. [6]

Organisation

Owens Park in 1975 Owens Park 1975.jpg
Owens Park in 1975

Owens Park comprised five main residential blocks (Tower, Tree Court, Green Court, Little Court, and the Mall), an entertainment block (referred to as "The OP"), where the weekly Owens Park BOP ('Big Old Party') used to take place, and an administration/library block. It also contained a computer cluster available to all students of the University.

The residential blocks were internally sub-divided into 'houses', each housing approximately 30-40 students. In the past, Tree Court was exclusively female, whilst the other blocks housed only male students. All block were of mixed sex, though any given floor in a house was single sex with exception to the tower. Each house had a supervising tutor and a common room. Each floor in a house had its own bathroom and kitchen. The halls were catered during the week.

There were generally rivalries between adjacent houses and other halls of residence, these were contested in sporting events such as football as each halls of residence generally have a team. Football matches are held each Wednesday and the occasional Saturday (for cup matches).

Owens Park Students' Association (OPSA) organised leisure and sporting activities, and was run by a committee formed of students who lived the hall.

Notable residents

Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien was a resident during his time at university in Manchester, as was Rik Mayall. [7] The Chemical Brothers played their first gig at the Owens Park BOP. The comedian Jack Whitehall also lived in the Tower, where also the actor Benedict Cumberbatch stayed. Other residents included Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith who formed Van der Graaf Generator in 1967 while living there. [8]

The BOP

Prior to September 2009 Owens Park BOP (Big Old Party) was a night held in Owens Park every Friday in the Owens Park tower's ballroom for students of the University of Manchester. The BOP generally had a theme and from September 2008 charged £1 entry to residents, which had caused some outrage amongst residents as previously it had been free. It had a charge of £3.50 for all other entrants. Only students were allowed to enter the BOP and a student card must have been presented upon entry.

The BOP was a popular student night out due to its low cost of drinks and transport as most of the BOP's customers were residents of local student halls of residence. However, Owens Park residents had been known to have become disgruntled both at the terrible music often played by the DJs and the students from other halls of residence coming to the event with the large queues this created to gain access.

The BOP usually had a theme each week such as a western theme or a dead celebrity theme causing large numbers of students to dress up for the occasion.

The BOP was set out very much like a classic school disco except with the inclusion of the sale of alcohol. As a customer entered they were greeted with the main tower bar with its own DJ and a vast amount of seating; however, the main draw of the BOP lay in the large hall upstairs. Upstairs there was a second bar and a foyer-like drinking area, and next door there was a large conference hall. The large hall had a disco-like atmosphere and professional DJ on the stage, with small amounts of seating at the sides. The BOP was generally open from 8 pm till around 2 am; however, times had been known to vary.

The BOP was run by the Owens Park Student's Association Executive Committee (OPSA). The Committee is also in charge of running all other hall activities such as the pub quiz, karaoke, sports, and hall pub and club outings.

The BOP is known on a larger scale for being the venue of the Chemical Brothers' first gig.

After its 2009 move to a pub outside Fallowfield, the Jabez Clegg, attendances steadily declined. Following many rumours, the last BOP took place on 25 January 2013, bringing an end to its 25-year run.

Related Research Articles

University of Manchester Public university in Manchester, England

The University of Manchester is a public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester City Centre on Oxford Road. The university owns and operates major cultural assets such as the Manchester Museum, The Whitworth, the John Rylands Library, the Tabley House Collection and the Jodrell Bank Observatory—a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Dormitory Residential student building

A dormitory is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university students. In some countries, it can also refer to a room containing several beds accommodating people.

University of Nottingham Halls of Residence

This is a list of halls of residence on the various campuses of the University of Nottingham in Nottingham, England.

Wilmslow Road

Wilmslow Road is a major road in Manchester, England, running from Parrs Wood northwards to Rusholme. There it becomes Oxford Road and the name changes again to Oxford Street when it crosses the River Medlock and reaches the city centre.

Fallowfield Human settlement in England

Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies 3 miles (5 km) south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wilbraham Road. The former Fallowfield Loop railway line, now a cycle path, follows a route nearly parallel with the east–west main road.

University of Exeter Halls of Residence

In 2011 the Halls of Residence for the University of Exeter in the city of Exeter, Devon, England, have just over 5,000 student residential places, including 3,426 in self-catering purpose-built flats and houses and 1,656 in catered accommodation.

Boston University Housing System Housing system for Boston University

The Boston University housing system is the 2nd-largest of any private university in the United States, with 76% of the undergraduate population living on campus. On-campus housing at BU is an unusually diverse melange, ranging from individual 19th-century brownstone town houses and apartment buildings acquired by the school to large-scale high-rises built in the 60s and 2000s.

Wessex Lane Halls Halls of residence of the University of Southampton

Wessex Lane Halls is a halls of residence complex owned by the University of Southampton. It is situated in the Swaythling district of Southampton, approximately one mile north-east of the University campus in Highfield.

Student housing at the University of California, Irvine is separated between freshmen, continuing students, graduate students, and faculty. These accommodations serve a traditional purpose of housing residents, but also serve as a long-term outreach incentive for new freshmen and faculty. Student housing also play a key role in developing campuswide social activities.

Dalton-Ellis Hall

Dalton-Ellis Hall is a hall of residence complex at the University of Manchester in Manchester, England. It is situated in the south of the city on Conyngham Road in Victoria Park, next to St Chrysostom's Church. It is close to Wilmslow Road in Rusholme. Dalton-Ellis has 279 male and female residents in catered accommodation. The hall admits both undergraduate and postgraduate students, most are undergraduate first years.

Uttley House Building in Fallowfield Campus

Uttley House, is a Grade II listed building and Halls of residence in Fallowfield, Manchester, England. It was designed and built in 1850 by Edward Walters, who was also responsible for Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. Originally a home for Sir Joseph Whitworth, The house is surrounded by five and a half acres of gardens to the south and an environmental research institute to the north. The house has seen many past uses, including a private home, hotel, vaccination clinic and conference centre.

South Stoneham House Former manor house and hall of residence in Southampton

South Stoneham House is a Grade II* listed former manor house in Swaythling, Southampton; the former seat of the Barons Swaythling before the family moved to the nearby Townhill Park House. The building is owned by the University of Southampton, and was used as a hall of residence, part of the Wessex Lane Halls complex.

University of Leeds accommodation

This is a list of halls of residence both on and off campus at the University of Leeds in Leeds, England.

Halls of residence at the University of Bristol are generally located within three distinct areas of Bristol, the City Centre, Clifton and Stoke Bishop.

Ashburne Hall Grade II listed hall of residence of the University of Manchester

Ashburne Hall is a University of Manchester hall of residence for students on the Fallowfield Campus, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the main university campus. The hall has catered accommodation offered to mainly undergraduate students, though some places are reserved for postgraduate students.

John Anderson Campus

The John Anderson Campus, the main campus of The University of Strathclyde, is located in Glasgow, Scotland. The campus is self-contained in its own area which straddles the Townhead and Merchant City districts on the north eastern side of the city centre, while being only minutes from the M8 Motorway, George Square and is located midway between Queen Street Railway Station and High Street station on the North Clyde Line.

Housing at the University of Chicago Student residential facilities

Housing at the University of Chicago includes seven residence halls that are divided into 48 houses. Each house has an average of 70 students. Freshmen and sophomores must live on-campus. Limited on-campus housing is available to juniors and seniors. The University operates 28 apartment buildings near campus for graduate students.

Didsbury Campus University in Didsbury, Manchester

The Didsbury Campus on Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, England, originally a private estate, was part of the Manchester Metropolitan University; the oldest building on the site dated to around 1785. It became a theological college for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1842, about the same time as a chapel which later became part of the college was built. These buildings are now all listed.

Fallowfield Campus

The Fallowfield Campus is the main residential campus of the University of Manchester. It is located in Fallowfield, Manchester, 2 miles (3 km) south of the main university site, to which it is connected by Wilmslow Road and the A34.

2020 University of Manchester protests

The 2020University of Manchester protests were a series of student protests and rent strikes that took place at the University of Manchester in November 2020 held in opposition to the perceived mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic by university management. On 5 November 2020 students tore down temporary steel fences in protest after they had been erected by the university with delayed warning around their halls of residence. A group of 10 students occupied the Owens Park Tower for 2 weeks from 12 November 2020. The protests attracted press coverage, leading to a number of concessions.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Clare Hartwell, Matthew Hyde and Nicholas Pevsner (2004) [1969]. Pevsner Architectural Guides - Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East. ISBN   0-300-10583-5.
  2. Accommodation Office - Owens Park, University of Manchester, archived from the original on 23 July 2007, retrieved 27 October 2012
  3. Owens Park Tower - SkyscraperPage.com
  4. "Student homes face the bulldozer", Manchester Evening News, 2 February 2001, archived from the original on 21 April 2013, retrieved 27 October 2012
  5. "Contract out for Owens Park construction partner". Place North West. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  6. "Fallowfield (The University of Manchester)". www.accommodation.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  7. "Young, gifted and punk: my mad days with Rik Mayall".
  8. Christopulos, J., & Smart, P. (2005). Van der Graaf Generator, The Book: A History of the Band Van der Graaf Generator 1967 to 1978, page 1. Phil and Jim Publishers. ISBN   978-0-9551337-0-1