Rylands Building | |
---|---|
General information | |
Type | Warehouse (1932–1957) Department store (1957–2021) |
Architectural style | Art Deco |
Location | Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom |
Address | 109–127 Market Street, Manchester M60 1TA |
Completed | 1932 |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 10 |
Floor area | 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2) [1] |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Fairhursts (Harry S. & P. G. Fairhurst) |
Designations | |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Rylands Building (Debenhams) |
Designated | 5 June 1994 |
Reference no. | 1219831 |
The Rylands Building is a Grade II listed building and former department store on Market Street in Manchester, England. [2] It is situated in the Smithfield conservation area, which was known for its markets and textile warehouses, [3] close to the Piccadilly area of Manchester city centre.
The building was originally built as a warehouse by J. Gerrard & Sons of Swinton for the Rylands textile company (Rylands & Sons Ltd) which was founded by the entrepreneur John Rylands. That firm had occupied warehouses in High Street ever since 1822; its west-facing side is on High Street. [4] The building was designed by the eminent Manchester architects, Fairhursts (Harry S. & P. G. Fairhurst), in an Art Deco style. It is clad in Portland stone and features a decorative corner tower and eclectic 'zig zag' window lintels. The work was completed in 1932. [5]
Following a fire in 1957 which destroyed the premises of Paulden's Department Store in All Saints, the company acquired the Rylands warehouse building and converted it to a store. This was then a direct rival to the Lewis's store, on the opposite side of Market Street. In 1973 Debenhams, the owner of Paulden's rebranded the store in their name. It remained Debenhams until its closure in 2021, outlasting other Manchester department stores including Lewis's, Affleck & Brown and C&A. [6]
In 2023, the developer AM Alpha published plans to redevelop the Rylands Building to provide office, retail, and leisure spaces, as well as a four storey roof-top extension. The plans by Jeffrey Bell Architects were approved by Manchester City Council in May 2021 [7] and construction is expected to complete in 2025. [1]
The Rylands Building can be seen in the background of L. S. Lowry's 1954 painting, Piccadilly Gardens . [8] [9]
Castlefield is an inner-city conservation area in Manchester, North West England. The conservation area which bears its name is bounded by the River Irwell, Quay Street, Deansgate and Chester Road. It was the site of the Roman era fort of Mamucium or Mancunium which gave its name to Manchester. It was the terminus of the Bridgewater Canal, the world's first industrial canal, built in 1764; the oldest canal warehouse opened in 1779. The world's first passenger railway terminated here in 1830, at Liverpool Road railway station and the first railway warehouse opened here in 1831.
Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland, and is still operating as a franchise in seven Middle East countries. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish department store chain Magasin du Nord. In its final years, its headquarters were within the premises of its flagship store in Oxford Street, London. The range of goods sold included middle-to-high-end clothing, beauty, household items, and furniture.
Sir Horace Jones was an English architect particularly noted for his work as architect and surveyor to the City of London from 1864 until his death. He served as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1882 until 1884, and was knighted in 1886. His most recognised work, Tower Bridge, was completed posthumously.
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Afflecks is an indoor market in Manchester, England, in the city's Northern Quarter on the junction of Church Street/Tib Street and Dale Street with Oldham Street. Dozens of independent stalls, small shops and boutiques operate in the one building. The building was once home to Affleck & Brown, one of the city's principal department stores. A bar on the original site opened in 2015, under the Affleck & Brown name.
The Northern Quarter is an area of Manchester city centre, England, between Piccadilly station, Victoria station and Ancoats, centred on Oldham Street, just off Piccadilly Gardens. It was defined and named in the 1990s as part of the regeneration and gentrification of Manchester.
Piccadilly Gardens is a green space in Manchester city centre, England, on the edge of the Northern Quarter.
Market Street is one of the principal retail streets in Manchester, England. It runs from its junction with Piccadilly and Mosley Street, close to Piccadilly Gardens, in the east to where it meets St. Mary's Gate at the crossroads with Exchange Street and New Cathedral Street in the west. St Mary's Gate then continues to where it meets Deansgate (A56). Other major streets crossed are High Street, Corporation Street, Cross Street and Fountain Street.
The architecture of Manchester demonstrates a rich variety of architectural styles. The city is a product of the Industrial Revolution and is known as the first modern, industrial city. Manchester is noted for its warehouses, railway viaducts, cotton mills and canals – remnants of its past when the city produced and traded goods. Manchester has minimal Georgian or medieval architecture to speak of and consequently has a vast array of 19th and early 20th-century architecture styles; examples include Palazzo, Neo-Gothic, Venetian Gothic, Edwardian baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and the Neo-Classical.
Kendals is the previous name of a department store in Manchester, England. Since 2005, the store now operates as House of Fraser. The store had previously been known during its operation as Kendal Milne, Kendal, Milne & Co, Kendal, Milne & Faulkner, Harrods or Watts.
Bridgewater House is a packing and shipping warehouse at 58–60 Whitworth Street, Manchester, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
Princess Street is one of the main streets in the city centre of Manchester, England. It begins at Cross Street and runs approximately eastwards across Mosley Street, Portland Street and Whitworth Street until the point where it continues as Brook Street and eventually joins the A34.
Charles Henry Heathcote was a British architect who practised in Manchester. He was articled to the church architects Charles Hansom, of Clifton, Bristol. He was awarded the RI Medal of Merit in 1868, and started his own practice in 1872.
Lancaster House in Whitworth Street, Manchester, England, is a former packing and shipping warehouse built between 1905 and 1910 for Lloyd's Packing Warehouses Limited, which had, by merger, become the dominant commercial packing company in early 20th century Manchester. It is in the favoured Edwardian Baroque style and constructed with a steel frame clad with granite at the base and Accrington red brick and orange terracotta. The back of the building is plain red brick. It is a Grade II* listed building as of 2 October 1974.
India House in Whitworth Street, Manchester, England, is a packing and shipping warehouse built in 1906 for Lloyd's Packing Warehouses Limited, which had, by merger, become the dominant commercial packing company in early-20th century Manchester. It is in the favoured Edwardian Baroque style and is steel-framed, with cladding of buff terracotta and red brick with buff terracotta dressings. It is a Grade II* listed building as of 2 October 1974.
Portland Street is a street in Manchester, England, which runs from Piccadilly at its junction with Newton Street south-westwards to Oxford Street at its junction with Chepstow Street. The major buildings of Portland Street include the largest former warehouse in the city centre, Watts Warehouse, the former Bank of England Building and other former warehouses on the corners of Princess Street.
107 Piccadilly is a Grade-II listed building on Piccadilly and Lena Street in Manchester, England. Situated near Piccadilly Gardens, it was originally built as a packing warehouse and showroom with offices for cotton manufacturer Sparrow Hardwick & Company.
Harry S. Fairhurst was a prominent architect in Edwardian Manchester. He was responsible for many of the city's iconic warehouses and his commissions include Blackfriars House, headquarters of the Lancashire Cotton Corporation and Arkwright House, headquarters of the English Sewing Cotton Company.
The Big Horn or the Tib Street Horn is a trombone-shaped public sculpture in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, England. It is some 10 m (33 ft) tall and is displayed on the remains of a building that once housed a hat factory. A proposed redevelopment in 2017 of this once industrial and commercial area resulted in the sculpture being taken down and put into storage, it was subsequently installed on Afflecks Palace.
Piccadilly Gardens is a 1954 oil painting by the English artist L. S. Lowry. It depicts Piccadilly Gardens, a large garden square in Manchester city centre, north-west England. The painting hangs in the Manchester Art Gallery on nearby Mosley Street.
53°28′56″N2°14′19″W / 53.4823°N 2.2386°W