Central Police Headquarters Bootle Street Manchester

The site takes in the old fire station in Jackson’s Row, absorbs the street known as South Sea and the block of buildings between South Sea and South Street. It has a frontage of 140 feet to South Street; 227 feet to Booth Street and 235 feet to Jackson’s Row. The frontages will enclose a covered (?) courtyard approximately a quarter of an acre in extent. The elevations have been designed in a simple and dignified style in keeping with the purpose of the building and provide for the facing of the South Street frontage with Portland stone, and of the remaining frontages with brick. The general structure will be in steel framework with reinforced concrete floors and concrete roofs covered with limmer rock asphalt. The floors of the corridors will be in terrazzo, and those of the general rooms in wood blocks, with the walls of the lavatories tiled up to dado height. [Manchester Guardian 28 February 1933 page 11]

CITY POLICE HEADQUARTERS - This building is an example of how the needs of one municipal department have been met by another municipal department. The city architect, Mr G Noel Hill, and his staff designed the whole of the building, fittings, furniture and decorative schemes. Harmony in appearance and usefulness is one result of this planning and supervision, which politicians might term unilateral. Visitors as well as occupants receive the impression that everything is as it should be and that the Manchester police force has at last modern accommodation and adequate facilities for its important work.  On an island site, roughly rectangular in shape, the building is bounded by South Street, Jackson's Row, Bootle Street and Syers Court. The main frontage in South Street conforms with the prevailing Manchester practice for large buildings in the use of Portland stone, but all walls are of brickwork and the remainder of the facings are in bricks of a golden brown shade. I addition to the headquarters, there is accommodation for "A" Division in the building.  A large rectangular courtyard, approximately 150 feet by 50 feet, occupies the central portion of the site. This is partially roofed and is obviously convenient for dealing with motor vehicles. It is advantageous for internal arrangements because it permits of better lighting than most street frontages, and so most of the offices face the courtyard. More quietness is also ensured. In the pricipal rooms facing South Street the windows are provided with double glazing to exclude street noise as much as possible.  Floors and flat roofs with the exception of the basement and lower ground floor, which are of solid reinforced concrete, are of hollow tile and concrete construction. Internal partitions are formed of plaster slabs. The floors of offices are finished with Rhodesian or Burma teak blocks, the main entrance is floored with Hopton-wood stone, and the corridors are covered with cork tiles. All windows are of heavy section steel, with extended frames. Internal doors are flush type. Throughout the offices are equipped with steel furniture and counters while the principal rooms have wood furniture to match the panelling. In the committee-room the panelled dado is of laurel wood; in the Chief Constable's office silver-grey wood has been used for the panelled walls. Other principal rooms have dado panelling of oak.

The heating installation consists of two large sectional boilers, each fired by a themostatically controlled mechanical stoker. From these boilers hot water is circulated throughout the building on the forced circulation system by means of an electrically operated centrefugal pump. A by-pass arrangement is provided so that a gravity circulation may be maintained in the case  of repairs to the pump being necessary. The electrical equipment has been installed so as to maintain freedom from interruption of the services essential in a building of this character. Failure of the supply as far as lighting is concerned is guarded against by the provision of a "Keepalite" emergency equipment supplying a duplex lighting system of 100 points, sufficient to provide emergency lighting for at least ten hours, ensuring a modified lighting system in practically all the principal rooms and salient points.  Two kitchens, one to serve headquarters dining rooms and the other the "A" Division dining rooms are equipped with up-to-date gas cooking apparatus. In looking after the welfare of the community this new Manchester police centre has science as an important collaborator. A crime information room contains radio equipment, in connection with which aerial masts have been erected. Radio interference suppression devices are connected to all the electrical apparatus and motors so that radio service will not be interrupted. There is an extensive department for fingerprint records and for the examination of fingerprints. A chemical laboratory with balance-room and store, and an optical laboratory, with two dark-rooms, are equipped for criminal investigation. The optical laboratory is a general optical workshop and may be used as a photographic studio. The dark-rooms have the latest equipment for developing and printing.  A private branch of six lines from the GPO exchange comprises the telephone installation. The switchboard is situated in a room at the top of the building, but in cases of emergency it can be transferred to the basement. This system is supplemented by a private telephone installation of "Dictograph" house telephones for the use of the chief executive officers and their staffs.  Time will not vary in the building. The electrical clocks are operated on the "Synchronome" impulse system with master clock and 48 silent slave clocks operated by a triple-charged battery.  There are two lifts, one at the main entrance stairway operated hydraulically and manually, and the other at the Jackson's Row entrance operated electrically. A hydraulic car lift is used in the covered yard in place of the repair pit. The offices for motor licences, etc., are off the courtyard, with the names over the doors making easy the way of the contributors to the revenue. [Manchester City News 2 July 1938. Page 13]

The new police headquarters by Mr Noel Hill, the city architect, is a plain sensible building carrying its slight stigmata of past styles with as little worry as possible; stigmata which  I feel Mr Hill will be ready to drop in his next building. The courtyard at the back, not, I suppose, meant to be seen except by prisoners and the police, is a disappointment. The glass roof, necessarily heavy from its big span, is down on one’s head, but without any impressiveness. After Piranesi and the police headquarters at Copenhagen, and even after Scotland Yard, one expects the imagination to have been fired just a little by such a subject – Professor C H Reilly, Some Recent Manchester buildings II  [Manchester Guardian 6 December 1937 page 11]

Reference    Manchester Guardian 28 February 1933 page 11 with perspective
Reference    Manchester Guardian Friday 16 July 1937 page – opening
Reference    Manchester City News 2 July 1938. Page 13
Reference    Builder 16 July 1937 Page 105-110 with illustrations, plans et
Reference    Professor C H Reilly, Some Recent Manchester buildings II  [Manchester Guardian 6 December 1937 page 11]