Manchester Jubilee Exhibition Buildings, Old Trafford

ORIGIN AND INCEPTION OP THE EXHIBITION - The first public step towards the promotion of the Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition was a meeting of the citizens, held in the Town Hall on June 11, 1886, when a resolution was unanimously passed affirming the desirability of commemorating the Jubilee Year of the Queen’s reign by holding “a National Exhibition of Arts, Science, and Industry.” Practical effect was at once given to this resolution by the appointment of a large and representative Committee, which, within the space of four months, had arranged all necessary preliminaries for the commencement of the Exhibition. A guarantee fund of £133,331 was raised; a site at Old Trafford, adjoining the Botanical Gardens, was selected; the plans of Messrs. Maxwell and Tuke architects, were adopted; and a contract for the execution of the buildings was signed with Messrs. Robert Neill and Sons. [Royal Jubilee Exhibition Manchester 1887 Official Catalogue. Page 19]

The fortunes of the Old Trafford Gardens reached their zenith in the 1880s. In 1887 and Exhibition of Art, Science and Industry was held to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The site was extended from the Botanical Gardens across Talbot Road, to the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway. The main building, designed by Maxwell & Tuke, was cross‑shaped, measuring 1000 feet in length, with a central dome 140 feet high. The exhibition lasted 192 days and some 4.75 million people attended. It was reported in 1889 that prior to the Exhibition attendance at the Gardens had been "somewhat exclusive", but the Exhibition encouraged greater use by the general public . [Archive of the Royal Botanical and Horticultural Society of Manchester and the Northern Counties.(MBH7/3/21)]

MANCHESTER JUBILEE EXHIBITION - The building designed by Messrs Maxwell & Tuke, whose plans have been accepted by the committee, will be constructed chiefly of iron and glass, to some extent after the style of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. From the centre rises a magnificent dome, in front of which, over the entrance, are two small towers. At each end of the structure there are large square elevations with sloping roofs. The architects state that in preparing plans of the building they have borne in mind the suggestions of the assessor as to (a) rapidity of construction, (b) safety from fire and (c) reduction of cost by resale. The plans would show that they had studied the division of the exhibition into sections. They had practically covered the whole of the land off Talbot Road as well as a portion of Hayesleigh and such portions of the Botanical Gardens as were required to make an approach from Chester Road. The extra area covered, inclusive of "Old Manchester and Salford" is about 40,000 square yards. The plan includes a portion of the Botanical Gardens. The trees about "Old Manchester and Salford", the open-air café, and the gallery of approach are delineated from actual measurement. They have narrowed the new portion of the gallery of approach to avoid the destruction of some of the ...lest trees in the gardens, which must be sacrificed if the sixty feet gallery is to be carried its full width to the main building

The new building is divided into five sections. The general plan of the main building consists of a lofty nave and transepts arranged in the form of a Latin cross, with low buildings supporting it on each side. Thee low buildings or courts are each thirty feet wide, and this division has been preferred above the usually greater width, as it allows in each court side exhibits and a central gangway. In the art portion of the building this method of spacing is of manifest advantage. Section No 2 (machinery in motion and processes) is divided into three sub-sections, one for motive power electrical machines and machinery in motion of a hazardous description, one for machinery in motion non hazardous; and the south-west angle (separated from the rest by the nave) for processes not requiring power and not hazardous. The floors of two of these sub-sections in the north-west angle are four feet six inches below the level of the rest of the floors. The section no 4 occupies the portion comprising "Old Manchester and Salford" and is partly used as a screen so that the whole of the front towards the Botanical gardens will be faced with ancient buildings representing portions of "Old Manchester and Salford" or historic buildings in the neighbourhood. Section 6 (fine arts) is separated from the rest of the building by fireproof screens. The doorways are deeply recessed to prevent the spread of fire. In Section 7 is a music room 150 feet by 100 feet divided from the rest of the building with fireproof screens. This hall is accessible from the gardens or from the central nave. In addition to this room the architects provide a band gallery at the end of the north transept, so arranged with movable shutters that the band can be heard either in the building or in the gardens. The refreshment department is said to be very ample, and has been arranged with special reference to the public convenience and its facilities for service and kitchen accommodation. The gallery of approach from Chester Road will be filled with statuary, interspersed with shrubs and flowers, so as to form a striking coup d’oeil upon entering.

Since then Hayesleigh has passed into other hands. For this reason, and also because .the available space was scarcely sufficient for the requirements of the Committee, it is now proposed that the building should be extended to the other side of Talbot Road. The noisy and dangerous portions of the exhibits will thus be removed from the main body of the building. "Old Manchester and Salford", which on the original plan was placed by the side of the approach from Chester Road now falls back conveniently into a portion of the space previously set aside for machinery requiring motive power. Hayesleigh is entirely left out of the plan, and a considerably larger space becomes available for machinery in motion. Unfortunately the extension to the other side of Talbot Road will interfere to some extent with the view of the building from  that side represented by our sketch. But in all other respects the change will be an improvement. Passing from the main building to the portion devoted to machinery in motion, the visitor will mount a few steps and then find himself in a gallery commanding a complete view of the immense space occupied by the machinery. Looking to the enormous development of the engineering trade in this district, it is probable that the display herewith both in quantity and in kind will be altogether unprecedented. Visitors to the Antwerp exhibition will remember that a similar arrangement existed there and it was occasioned there as here by the necessity of crossing a road. The expedient, however, thus adopted for overcoming a difficulty was afterwards found to be of great advantage on its own merits. The precise position of the suggested additions and the particular dimensions have not, we believe, been yet absolutely determined but the small sketch here given indicates with sufficient precision the nature of the change from the original plan. The domes which appear on the sketch somewhat low will, we believe, be made higher and be somewhat modified in form. Only about one half of the extent of the Botanical Gardens is here shown. The Fine Arts Section will be divided from the rest of the building by a stout brick wall and other precautions will be taken to render this part of the building entirely fireproof. [Manchester Guardian, Friday, August 20, 1886]