Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building, Manchester

The Tootal Buildings
The Tootal Buildings
Location within Greater Manchester
Former names	Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building Churchgate House
General information
Type	Commercial office
Location	Manchester, England
Coordinates	53°28′31″N2°14′32″W / 53.4752°N 2.2422°W / 53.4752; -2.2422
Construction started	1896
Inaugurated	1898
Renovated	2015
Owner	Helical Bar PLC
Technical details
Floor count	6
Design and construction
Architect	J. Gibbons Sankey
Main contractor	Capital Properties (UK) Ltd
Designations
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building
Designated	3 October 1974
Reference no.	1271294

The Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building (currently marketed as The Tootal Buildings ^[1] ) at 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.

History

The warehouse was designed by J. Gibbons Sankey and constructed between 1896 and 1898. ^[2] It has been designated a Grade II* listed building. ^[3]

Nikolaus Pevsner's The Buildings of England describes the warehouse as "large, in red brick striped with orange terracotta, but comparatively classical". ^[2] The entrance 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". ^[3]

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". ^[4]

Behind the warehouse but not visible from Oxford Street is Lee House, the stub of what would have been the tallest building in Europe at 217 ft (66 m), a 17-storey warehouse belonging to the same firm (planned 1928; part completed 1931). ^[5] 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.

Occupants

As of 2024 ^[update] , the building hosts the headquarters of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, including the office of the Mayor of Greater Manchester. ^{[6] [7]}

See also

• Greater Manchester portal

• Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
• Listed buildings in Manchester-M1
• Manchester cotton warehouses
• St. James Buildings, which faces the Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building across Oxford Street

Notes

1. "The Tootal Buildings - Helical PLC". Helical. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
2. The Buildings of England: Lancashire- Manchester and the South East, p. 321
3. "Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building 56 - Manchester - Greater Manchester - England | British Listed Buildings". Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
4. Pevsner Architectural Guides: Manchester, p. 182
5. Sharp, Dennis, et al. (1969) Manchester. London: Studio Vista; p. 33
6. Williams, Jennifer (23 September 2016). "Region's 'super council' to get £2m city centre headquarters". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
7. "GMCA: Our address". Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.

References

• Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew & Pevsner, Nikolaus, The Buildings of England: Lancashire: Manchester and the South East (2004) Yale University Press
• Hartwell, Clare, Pevsner Architectural Guides: Manchester (2002) Yale University Press
• British Listed Buildings
• Churchgate & Lee House Website

External links

• The Tootal Buildings

53°28′31″N2°14′32″W / 53.4752°N 2.2422°W / 53.4752; -2.2422