Board School Every Street Ancoats

The Every-street school is the largest of three schools which the Board now have in the course of erection. It is designed to accommodate 1000 children, or 500 infants on the ground floor and 250 boys and the same number of girls on the upper floor.  The ground floor is divided in the centre by the principal entrance hall 10 feet wide, staircase 4 feet 6 inches wide, and infants' cloakroom 10 feet by 18 feet. On the right of this arrangement is the schoolroom for 250 male infants, 30 feet by 59 feet 6 inches, with a classroom adjoining, 18 feet by 21 feet 9 inches, and on the left a second schoolroom for 250 female infants, also 30 feet by 59 feet 6 inches, with a classroom adjoining, 16 feet by 24 feet. The rooms on the upper floor are very similar both in size and arrangement. The staircase to the girls' school rises from the central entrance-hall, while that to the boys' school is placed to the end of the building to the right. The ground floor rooms are 14 feet high and the first floor rooms 11 feet high to the wall plate and 17 feet high to the ceiling at the collar line. The basement extends under the whole of the building. The large areas under the infants' schoolroom and under the female infants' classroom are arranged as covered playgrounds, opening out into the sunk playground at the rear of the building. They will be 10 feet high and about 470 square yards in extent and will form most valuable recreation grounds in the winter and rainy season. The whole of the schoolrooms will be heated by Messrs Shillito and Shoreland's excellent "Manchester grates." Ventilating flues will be connected with the stack of smoke flues from these grates, and other air flues formed of specially made earthenware pipes will be built into the walls for the supply of fresh air and the exhalation of foul air. To every window there will be an opening casement, and in all the floors there will be fresh air gratings, with regulation slides. The ventilation in the roof will be arranged so as to secure cross or through currents of air that will effectively carry the foul air brought from the ventilating flues out of the building.  The site on which the new buildings are being erected adjoins the Congregational Chapel at the end of Every-street, Ancoats. Some years ago, large gas holders were constructed on this land but hey were afterwards abandoned and the whole site was subsequently filled up with refuse from some chemical works in the neighbourhood which has proved the source of very great difficulties in the construction of the foundations. .... The buildings throughout will be constructed of common white ended bricks, jointed in black mortar. The arches, bands, strings and other ornamental features will be formed in black bricks and red stocks, with specially made bricks introduced in various parts. The materials throughout will be of the plainest kind and there will be no carving or expensive enrichment of any description. The design is therefore dependent on the grouping and the picturesque breaking up of the roof and sky-lines. A central tower will form an important feature in the design and, together with the buttresses and slightly projecting wings, will give a very pleasing variety of lines to the principal front. Mr W Dawes of King-street is the architect. [Manchester Guardian Friday 16 April 1875 Page 6 Col 1-2]

Reference    Manchester Guardian Saturday 20 September 1873 Page 6 (Contracts) and Tuesday 23 September 1873 Page 6 (Contracts)
Reference    Manchester Guardian Friday 16 April 1875 Page 6 Col 1-2 -foundation stone
Reference    Manchester City News 17 April 1875 Page 2 Column 7 (from M. Guardian)
Reference    British Architect 23 April 1875 Page 237
Reference    British Architect 30 April 1875 Page 251- letter Royle and Bennett
Reference    The Builder 1875:409