House at Thorneyholme Estate, Knutsford, for Charles J. Galloway

HOUSE AT KNUTSFORD In this house, which is now being built for Mr. Charles J. Galloway, at Knutsford, Cheshire, from the designs of Messrs. Salomons & Ely, of Manchester and London, the whole of the external woodwork will be of English oak. The brick facing is of bricks, showing 7.5 in by 2,25 in. on the face. The roof and a portion of the walls will be tiled. Internally there will be no painted woodwork. The hall and staircase, including the ceiling, will be in English oak. The morning-room will be in Spanish mahogany and American walnut with an oak margin to the floor, and a plain ceiling. The drawing-room in ebonised walnut with parquet margin to the floor, and an ornamental plaster ceiling. The dining-room will be all in English oak, and the floor will have an oak margin, while the ceiling will have oak beams. The billiard-room will have pitch-pine ceiling, and the rest of the woodwork in English oak. The bedrooms will be finished chiefly in pitch-pine, and the back parts of the house in pine. All the internal woodwork will be either polished or varnished. It is intended to furnish the hall and a room, and for that reason separate access to the fount door, from the butler's pantry, is provided. The carpenter's and joiner's work is being executed by Mr. Richard Beckett, of Hartford, Cheshire; the brickwork by Mr. Tickell, of Knutsford; the masons' work by Messrs. Rathbone, of Northwich; the roof tiling by Mr. Spruce, of Knutsford; and the plumbing by Messrs. Jaffrey & Co., of Manchester. Mr. W. P. Samuels is the clerk of the works.

The drawing was accepted for the Royal Academy Exhibition this year, in the first instance, but not hung for want of room. [Builder 3 October 1881 pages 460 and 478

Charles Galloway, one of the four sons of John Galloway, was a keen art collector and member of the Brazenose Club. In 1885 he purchased the Woodlands estate of Henry Long, dividing the 25-acre estate into two plots. He kept the 11 acres to the north of what is now Thorneyholme Drive for himself and built “Thorneyholme” there. He sold Woodlands House with 14 acres to the south of the drive to Hugh Arthur Birley of Didsbury, it is said, for almost as much as he had paid the Longs for the whole 25 acres

Reference        Builder 3 October 1885 page 460 and 478
Reference        Builder 3 October 1885, plans and perspective