Ralli Brothers Warehouse Stanley Street Salford

WAREHOUSE SITES - MANCHESTER FIRM AND SALFORD -  Messrs Ralli Bothers, of Manchester, who are one of the largest exporters of cotton goods to India, have decided to build a new warehouse and offices in order to centralise their business. At present they have three warehouses as far apart as Peter-street, Trumpet-street, Gaythorn, and Strangeways. The new premises, which will more than double their warehouse room, will be built on land in Stanley-street, off New Bailey-street, Salford, immediately adjoining the Lancashire Yorkshire Railway and close to the river Irwell, down which their goods can be taken by barges to the Ship Canal docks for shipment to India. Messrs Rallis choice of a site is interesting because it shows a departure from the tendency of many years past to concentrate warehouses in the Whitworth-street area of Manchester. It is the first instance of a leading firm of cotton merchants crossing the Irwell and putting up large premises in Salford. Messrs Ralli will in Stanley Street be almost as near The Royal Exchange ae they are now. The plans of the new premises have not yet been prepared, but Messrs Ralli hope that the building will be completed in about two years. They have occupied the Peter-street warehouse, which they own, since 1868. Requiring more room, they took the Strangeways premises in 1875, and about seven or eight ago they again added to their accommodation by to the premises in Trumpet Street. [Manchester Guardian 3 February 1912 page 12]

Ralli Brothers announce their removal from offices and warehouses in Peter Street, Briddon Street and Trumpet Street to new warehouse Stanley Street, Salford. [Manchester Guardian 11 July 1914]

RALLI BROTHERS WAREHOUSE - The fine new warehouse of Messrs Ralli Brothers, which is situated between the River Irwell and Salford Station, has now been completed, and it does not need a very practical mind to realise the value of the position to a firm with the huge business of Messrs Ralli Brothers. There is the river on one side communicating directly with the Ship Canal; there is the railway on the other side communicating with the whole of the country; and between the two Messrs W & G Higginbottom, architects of 94 Market Street, have produced a really handsome structure as can be seen from our illustration. It does not depend however on added ornament for its effect. This comes solely from the grace of its outline - an achievement of great merit when the limitations are considered. And, as was to be expected, every advantage has been taken of the convenient nature of the site in the arrangement of the building, whilst every possible mechanical contrivance for the rapid handling of goods has been introduced under the personal supervision of M Rowland Woollaston, consulting engineer, of Manchester. Many of the best firms of the district have been involved in the construction of this warehouse, and as the offices are what may be considered the brain of the place it will be convenient to begin a description there. Their entrance is opposite New Bailey-street, and one is at once struck with the oak-panelled hall. There is no aggressive newness about the fitments; some subtle treatment has given them the dignity of age. All the way up the marble stairway, with its mosaic landings, the same impression is conveyed, and the offices themselves, which are entered through revolving doors, there is a n immediate feeling of spaciousness and light, whilst the equipment strikes one as the only kind that would have been suitable.

We have finished the place, however, before we have got it built, and amongst those who have had a hand in the actual construction are Messrs Burgess and Galt, builders and contractors, of Upton-street and Stockport Road, Ardwick, a firm which can, if required, carry through a job without a single sub-contractor’s assistance, as its employees represent every branch of trade. Amongst the examples of work standing to the credit of Messrs Burgess and Galt are Withington’s new baths, the Young Men’s Christian Association in Peter-street, extensions of the Withington Workhouse, and the Warehousemen and Clerks’ Orphan Schools at Cheadle Hulme, the erection of the Tame-street Joint Casual Wards, several of the city’s most imposing warehouses, and the Reddish Baths Library and Fire Station.

 The window frames are another special job. These have been supplied by Messrs George Wragge Limited of 152-6 Chapel-street Salford, who have equipped the building throughout with frames of rolled steel. This material enables frames of smaller sections to be used than wood frames, thus admitting more daylight, a circumstance of obvious importance. These rolled steel frames are at the same time fireproof and everlasting. This type of window is now being extensively used on modern buildings and Messrs George Wragge, the manufacturers of them, have equipped some of the largest buildings in this country and abroad, a notable one being the famous Singer Tower of New York.. Local buildings so equipped are the Royal Infirmary, the Whitworth Art Gallery, Messrs Lewis’s new premises and many large office buildings in Whitworth-street. The fine white marble stairs and the mosaic landings previously referred to are the work of the well-known Manchester firm of J & H Patteson of 96 Oxford-street, as are also the splendid marble entrance and the mosaic stone of the office. [Manchester City News 3 October 1914 Page 6]

Reinforced concrete construction. Demolished for the building of Ralli Quays (Fairhursts)

Reference    Manchester City News 3 October 1914 Page 6 (advertising feature with illustration)
Reference    Manchester Guardian 10 February 1912 page 1
Reference    Manchester Guardian 11 July 1914
Reference    British Architect 5 February 1915 p77-78 with notes