Arts Library University of Manchester

UNIVERSITY ARTS LIBRARY - At the University is a simple, honest new building, finely and sanely finished inside, which must give satisfaction to all who use it the new Arts Library by Messrs Thomas Worthington and Sons. One cannot help but be disappointed that the University had already departed from its stone and taken to red brick and so lost in mass effect. Strangely enough, the University of Liverpool is just moving in the opposite direction from red brick to stone. But having made that move, this building, except that one sees right through it in one direction, is as staid and sensible and dignified as buildings for learning should be and so rarely are. There is no silly applied romanticism here, no style for style’s sake. It seems a pity, after seeing this, that Manchester went beyond her borders for her own city work (Town Hall Extension). The same firm of architects, as well known in Oxford as in Manchester, has recently added some very pleasant yet simple staff rooms – the new Staff House – lined with veneered plywood, which are a model of what such rooms for constant use can be today with modern materials and at little cost. - Professor C H Reilly, Some Recent Manchester Buildings II  [Manchester Guardian 6 December 1937 page 11]

Reference    Builder 9 April 1937 Page 771-774
Reference    Manchester Guardian 6 December 1937 page 11