Bridgewater House, 58-60 Whitworth Street, Manchester

Steel frames shipping warehouse on a site adjacent to the Palace Theatre, bounded by Whitworth Street, Atwood Street and the Rochdale Canal. Rusticated base of stone. Upper floors white glazed terra cotta. Classically derived elevation with a strong cornice line. Offices extended out in oriel bay windows. Over the main entrances are profiled medallions of the Duke of Bridgewater, the man who initiated canal building in England. Speedy delivery and loading were essential to the smooth and efficient workings of the new packing warehouses and Fairhurst revolutionised the way this was achieved.  Half the ground floor area was given over to loading facilities with a one-way traffic system introduced. Vehicles entered the loading area from Atwood Street and left on to Whitworth Street at the Palace Theatre end of the building. In this manner, twenty-six lurries could be dealt with simultaneously. Lifts and staircases were so placed to maximise useable space.

"One hundred and seventy feet of delicate lines tapering up to the sky, rosy with the afternoon’s dying gleam — lines which lose none of their grace, though the frontage and sides, and the rear for that matter, are mostly windows and flat windows alternating so far as the front is concerned." In these words a writer has described the external appearance of Bridgewater House. Lloyd's new Packing warehouse. He adds "By these large ubiquitous windows every inch of the floor space in this great structure is assured of all the daylight allotted to Manchester. The aggregate area of floor space is a little over 7 acres, which is equal to four and a half times the length of Mosley Street from Piccadilly to St. Peter's Square." Bridgewater House is 170 feet high (14 storeys), and has a frontage on Whitworth Street of 240 feet. It is the highest building in the country and the biggest packing warehouse in the world. Its internal arrangements are quite in keeping with its up-to-date character. The idea has been to provide accommodation for large shippers and for small shippers, and whether a man takes half a floor or a quarter floor he will be equally conveniently situated for dealing with his goods. Packages for all parts of the world will leave this large industrial hive. (There are fourteen others belonging to the same firm in Manchester already.)  First of all five powerful hoists will convey them to the shippers' warerooms where they will undergo all necessary examinations; then back down into the basement, where they will be packed and despatched. From a little street to the right of the building the lurries will enter a covered way, which is really a street 44 feet wide, and loading banks, provided with every necessary equipment stretch along each side to such a length that some twenty or thirty lurries can load and unload at the same time. And all the time there will be a clear space for the passage to and fro of other vehicles. Those who have seen the old methods of narrow streets and waiting lurries can easily realise what an acceleration of industry this will mean. [Manchester Guardian 29 December 1913 page 3]

Reference    Manchester Guardian 29 December 1913
Reference    Manchester City News 18 July 1925 – a list of works by Gerrard of Swinton includes Bridgewater House
Reference    RIBA drawings collection: Manchester: Bridgewater House, Whitworth Street and Atwood Street, design for Lloyds Packing Warehouses Ltd., 1912 [PA305/2(1-9)]