Crossley House 755 Ashton Old Road Openshaw

Openshaw Lad's Club was founded in November 1888 by William John Crossley. It was previously known as the Gorton and Openshaw Working Lad's Club and the Crossley Lad's Club. The Crossley family financed the club up to 1941 and they built the club premises, Crossley House to commemorate Sir William Crossley after his death in 1911. The building was opened on 1 September 1913. In July 1941 the premises were handed over to the National Association of Boy's Clubs and a management committee was formed to administer the club

CROSSLEY LAD’S CLUB - To perpetuate the memory of the late Sir William Crossley, who believed that " a city's greatest asset is its young men," a new Crossley Lad’s Club will be opened without ceremony, in Ashton Old Road on Monday. [Manchester Guardian 1 September 1913 page 14]

The Clubhouse at Openshaw, built as a memorial to the late Sir William Crossley, Bart., comprises several large halls embodying interesting examples of Ferro-Concrete. On the ground floor there is a large recreation hall (see view on opposite page), the floor of which covers a football room, 66 feet long by 40 feet wide, along the walls of this being a Ferro-Concrete cantilever gallery used as a running track. Above the recreation hall there is a lecture hall, 57 feet long by 33 feet wide, with a Ferro-Concrete gallery at one end, as illustrated. The building also includes a gymnasium, designed for use as a dancing hall if required, this apartment having a gallery for spectators. Architect: JOHN BROADBENT. [Yorkshire Hennebique Contracting Co Ltd. Catalogue page 276]

The roomy red-brick three-storied building will make a comfortable and cosy club. In the basement there are a football room and a band room. with five courts. for games and a storeroom for blankets and tents. The ground floor embraces a lounge, three full sized billiard tables, and two ping-pong tables. On the first floor there is a well-equipped gymnasium. with dressing-rooms and a gallery for spectators. The are also four classrooms on this floor. The gymnasium will comfortably hold between 200 and 300 people and there is a band platform. The building, which not long ago was a Crossley Home for Consumptives*, is lighted with electricity throughout, and classical pictures adorn the walls the rooms.  The Old Lad’s Club in Pottery Lane, Openshaw, has been demolished, the property being required for business purposes. Crossley's employees have a football field in North Road, Clayton, of six and a half acres. They have six football teams, a hockey team, six cricket teams. and a team of harriers, as well as a lawn tennis and bowling team. The club subscription is one penny per week. [Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser 5 September 1913 page 13 page 9]

Simon Inglis (Played in Manchester page 108-109) gives the architect as John Broadbent as does Yorkshire Hennebique Contracting Co Ltd. Catalogue page 276; Buildings of England (Lancashire Manchester and the South East page 374-375) names the architect seemingly erroniously as James Barritt Broadbent.

Reference    Hartwell: Lancashire Manchester and the South East page 374-375
Reference    Simon Inglis: Played in Manchester page 108-109
Reference    Manchester Guardian 1 September 1913 page 14 – notice of opening
Reference    Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser 5 September 1913 page 13 page 9
Reference    Yorkshire Hennebique Contracting Co Ltd. Catalogue page 276 with image