Shops and Showrooms: Oxford Road Manchester

A speculative development including ten shops and showrooms, built on the site of the old Longford Mill warehouses, between Hulme Street and Chester Street. White glazed terra cotta with green Westmorland slate roof. Each shop, with a frontage of 23ft. and a depth of 60ft. included a first floor showroom of similar size and a basement. On the second floor of the building, approached by a wide staircase and lift, was a room 256 feet long by 60 feet wide, and 24 feet in height. A balcony of 1,629 square feet was situated over the central portion of the hall. Originally conceived by the developer as  a banqueting hall, assembly rooms, restaurant, ballroom, or similar, it was subsequently fitted out as a twin cinema, with the central projection rooms situated on the balcony. All these premises constitute only the front portion of the structure. There was a similar sized rear portion, separated from the Oxford Road building by a fourteen-foot passage. This has been taken on lease for a publishing enterprise.(Odhams Press?)

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN OXFORD ROAD - AN IMPOSING BLOCK OF SHOPS AND SHOWROOMS -  The development of Oxford Road, Manchester, proceeds rapidly. The latest construction to approach completion is an imposing block of shops and business premises on the site of the old Longford Mill warehouses between Hulme-street and Chester-street. The new building is one entirely worthy of its notable position, and entirely suited to it in that the keynote to the design is brightness and attractiveness. Critics are always urging that Manchester needs brightening, and our architects are taking their advice seriously. The new premises, like a great deal of new development in Oxford Road and on the south side of the city, are the result of the foresight and enterprise of Mr. E. Nove. He early foresaw that Manchester would make its future progress towards the south, and the fact that the municipality has now built thousands of houses on this side of the city has hastened an inevitable process. It is calculated that well over 500,000 people pass this particular point every day: they include workers in the city area, residents in the crowded neighbourhood, a multitude of determined shoppers (particularly the ladies, for Oxford Road is now a centre of the fashion trade), and nearly all the steady stream of visitors to Manchester from other cities. Mr. Nove has shown even more than his customary energy on this occasion, and the speed with which the old warehouse came down and the new premises have gone up has been astonishing. As a consequence, ten large shops, twenty-three feet wide and sixty feet deep, with showrooms of like size on the floor above and large basements below, are now on offer for long or short lease, to open in March quarter. There is also a huge hall on the second floor - 256 feet long and 60 feet wide - to be let either as a banqueting hall, assembly rooms, restaurant, ballroom, showroom or any other purpose needing floor space of this kind. This hall, which has a central balcony and is approached by a marble staircase and lifts, carries with it the central shop of the block, twenty-seven feet wide and sixty feet deep. All these premises constitute only the front portion of the structure put up by Mr. Nove. There is a similar sized rear portion, separated from the other by a fourteen foot passage. This has been taken on lease complete by an important London firm for a publishing enterprise.

The bright character of the new structure has already been indicated, and it can be added that there are many touches of novelty also. The building (reference has been made to the front block only) is a complete and harmonious design in white terra cotta, roofed with green Westmorland slate. There is a covered parade all the way round under the roof eaves, (in connection with the banqueting hall), with roof gardens at each end. This parade is railed in blue enamelled metal, giving a striking effect when viewed from the road against the white background of the terra cotta wall. The facade design as a whole is very artistic and simple, having as its main feature a central pediment with deeply recessed and groined ceiling. The spacious main entrance is immediately beneath, and the effect is to give a restful balance to the whole design. The is a small balcony at each corner of the front facade. The main entrance gives on to a hall from which a wide marble staircase with wrought iron balustrades ascends to the banqueting hall, and from which also the electric lifts work. The building being on practically an island site, there is an abundance of natural light, and this is reinforced by a very full and artistic electric lighting installation. The building, of fireproof construction throughout, has oak block flooring laid on concrete. An adequate central heating installation is installed. The windows are all of metal frame construction.

In short, everything about the building is of the most modern and approved type, and credit for yet another sound piece of design must go to the architects, Messrs. Pendleton & Dickinson, F.F.M.S.A. In nothing is the structure more modern than in the facilities it offers for carrying on business. There is no suggestion of cramping for space anywhere: goods can be unloaded and loadedin the wide rear loading way, and any number of vehicles can get away through Hulme-street and Chester-street, where they are within two minutes run of any railway station in Manchester. This characteristic of the structure and the site has no doubt been responsible for the early leasing of the rear building, publishing houses requiring the best possible transport facilities. All the arrangements for tenancies are being made by Messrs. E. Nove Estates Ltd. at 10, Oxford Road (the block of buildings next to the new structure). [Manchester City News 25 January 1930 Page 8]

Reference    Builder 28 March 1930 Page 642
Reference    Builder 19 April 1929 page 747 - plans passed by Improvements Committee
Reference    Builder 25 April 1930 Page 837 - plans approved
Reference    Builder 8 August 1930. Page 249
Reference    Manchester City News 25 January 1930 Page 8