Baptist Chapel and School: Byrom Street Hale Road Bowden
BOWDON, CHESHIRE - On Thursday week the memorial stones of a new Baptist chapel and schools were laid at Bowdon. The building will be Italian in character, of red brick, two stories in height, and is being erected at the junction of Hale‑road and Byrom‑street. The lower story will be used for school purposes, and will comprise a school‑room 67 feet long and 39 feet wide, with two class‑rooms, library, &c., and will be provided with a separate entrance from Byrom‑street, and also have communication with the chapel by means of a staircase in the tower. The upper floor comprises the chapel, 73 feet long, 39 feet wide, and 28 feet high, with a gallery over the main entrance, and will afford .accommodation for nearly 500 persons. The interior of the chapel will be finished entirely in plasterCthe ceiling being semi‑elliptical in shape, divided into panels, with moulded and enriched plaster ribs, and will offer good scope for future decoration. Vestries are provided at the back of the chapel, with separate entrance from Byrom Street. The front faces Hale‑road, and will be flanked with a handsome campanile, rising to a height of 64 feet The main entrance to chapel will be approached by a flight of stone steps, and will be composed of a triple archway - the spandrels of arches being filled in with a diaper ornament in brickwork, over which will be three circular‑headed windows: the whole surmounted by a pediment filled in with ornamental brickwork. The cost of the buildings will be about ,2,100, and the works are being executed by Mr. J. Pennington, builder, Bowdon, from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr. William Owen, architect, 134, Deansgate, Manchester. [Building News 27 December 1878 page 710]
Bowdon, Cheshire. - For the erection of a new Baptist chapel and schools. Mr. Wm. Owen, architect, 134, Deansgate. Manchester: Pennington, J. (accepted) £2,075. Building News 18 October 1878 p414]
A new Baptist Church at Bowdon was opened on Tuesday. The building, which is in the Italian style, will seat 500 people, and has cost about £2,500. The architect is Mr W. Owen, of Deansgate, Manchester. [Building News 17 October 1879 page 475]
Opening services were held on Tuesday week in the new Baptist church. Hale Road, Bowdon. The building, which has been erected from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr W Owen, will seat nearly 500 persons, and its total cost will be £2,500. Under the church proper are schools, and the whole erection is in the Italian style of architecture. [Building News 24 October 1879 page 512]
Architect O. Edwards and W Owen 134 Deansgate Manchester and Wellington Chambers Rhyl. William Owen, 134 Deansgate, Manchester took sole charge after partnership ended in 1879.
Reference Manchester Guardian 27 July 1878 Page 9 Column 8 (in Legal Notices)
Reference Building News 18 October 1878 page 414 - tenders
Reference British Architect 20 December 1878 Page 248
Reference Building News 27 December 1878 page 710
Reference British Architect Supplement 24 October 1879 Page ix
Reference Building News 17 October 1879 page 475
Reference Building News 24 October 1879 page 512
Reference The Builder 1879: 31.