Proposed Residential Hotel and Flats Wilmslow Road and Cromwell Range Rusholme

NEW FLATS FOR MANCHESTER - Among several important building projects recently put forward in Manchester, is one for well-appointed self-contained flats on a scale not hitherto attempted in the city. The scheme, which will be put in hand this winter, is for a residential hotel and blocks of flats to be built on Wilmslow Road immediately opposite Grangethorpe Hospital and Platt Fields. The plans, which have been passed by the Corporation, provide for a seven-storey main building fronting Wilmslow Road , with two three-storey wings behind enclosing a quadrangle which will be laid our as a sports ground and garden. Altogether there will be about 100 flats, half of them of the single bedroom type, the other half having two bedrooms. The buildings will be made of the small hand-made sand-faced bricks with white cement mortar which Professor Reilly had done so much to bring into favour. They will be architecturally harmonic neighbours of Ashburne Hall. On the ground floor will be nine shops, and a wide central entrance hall served by two lifts. On either side will be private entrances, each equipped with lifts. On the first floor there will be a public restaurant with orchestral gallery and balconies at the front and rear of the building. Adjoining there is to be a smaller dining room, billiard room, smoke room, and lounge, mainly for the use of the tenants of the flats, a few of which will be occupying the same floor. Each flat, whether of the one or two-bedroomed type, will have its own bathroom and kitchenette. The two wings of the building will be entirely composed of flats, and the quadrangle will be completed by a row of private garages. In the quadrangle there will be a tennis court and ornamental garden. The architect is Mr P Cummings of 27 King Street, Manchester. [Manchester Guardian 11 October 1929 page 13]

This scheme is intended to supply a need in Manchester for residences in a high-class suburban district and within easy reach of the city. Hitherto the facilities in Manchester for flat dwellers have been provided by reconstructed old buildings. The layout of the scheme embraces a seven storey building facing the main road, flanked by two blocks of three storey buildings, a row of garages at the rear, and a tennis court and garden forming the quadrangle. The seven storey residential hotel consists of nine shops on the ground floor and a large restaurant on the first floor (which will also be open to the public), small private dining rooms for the residents, a billiards room, lounge, music room, kitchen and other offices. The upper floors are planned for one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats (Each flat will consist of a living room, kitchenette, bathroom, lavatory and water closet). The two three storey blocks will consist of self-contained one-bedroom flats and two-bedroom flats. The cost of the whole scheme will be about £80,000. Mr P Cummings ARIBA is the architect. [Builder 14 February 1930 Page 346].

Reference    Builder 29 March 1929 page 620
Reference    Manchester Guardian 11 October 1929 page 13 with perspective
Reference    Builder 14 February 1930 Page 346, 352-356, 362 with illustrations

CHECK -  Scheme not built?