Chorlton Lodge Alexandra Park

The buildings at the entrances into the new Alexandra park are by Mr Darbyshire and very successful in design and character. Here again this architect has evidently aimed for the domestic sentiment still adhering to the severe traditions of English Gothic. The entrance at the Hulme side is larger in extent than the Chorlton entrance lodge and, we think, not quite so satisfactory in design. The accommodation for the Parks Committee seems to have been added, and does not look like part of the original design, and this feeling is strengthened by the statement over one of the doorways in grand gold lettering on a sky blue ground, that this portion is intended for the lady visitors to the park. We hope the architect is not responsible for this blot upon the elevations, as it is simply vile. The building is remarkably well built, nice in colour and grouping, and should command respect at the hands of its custodians.

The Chorlton lodge is a very choice bit of design. We would call attention to the efforts made in these buildings at ornamental brickwork. Frequently we find vicious and ugly attempts to decorate an elevation by fantastic forms of brick ornament and coloured brickwork, which only help to condem a material capable of great things if properly treated. .... The brickwork in the Park buildings is good, and a step in the right direction, and the careful avoidance of white bricks in the elevations and the substitution of black bricks produces a very satisfactory effect. We have to congratulate the Parks Committee both on the successful completion of the Park and the architectural quality of their buildings. [The Critic Vol 2. 13 July 1872 page 4]

Undisciplinedly picturesque  (Pevsner South Lancashire Page 334)

Reference    The Critic Vol 2. 13 July 1872 page 4