Building Name

T Hayward & Sons 62-66 Deansgate Manchester

Date
1877
Street
62-66 Deansgate
District/Town
Manchester
County/Country
GMCA, England
Work
New Build

Four storeys. Free renaissance with three large twin-arched windows at first floor and six above. The rhythm of arched windows, different on each floor is enlivened by a little frivolous carving, an effect described by C H Reilly as “rather as if a frock-coated mourner at a funeral displayed every now and then a lace handkerchief.”   The main interest remains the shop-fronts, with their delicate mahogany frames, a rare survival of an original shopfront. Inside the shop retained its original curved glass and mahogany display cabinets. Hayward’s were one of the oldest specialist glass and china shops in the country and remained a family concern until taken over by Lawley’s, a London-based chain of china retailers, in 1976. Established in 1811 by Thomas Hayward, in a small shop in Victoria Street, the firm soon moved to larger premises in Deansgate. In the heyday of Victorian affluence, his son extended the building further. Although the third generation Thomas Hayward expanded the business still further by supplying china to hoteliers, the main interest was always with the carriage trade - the wealthy Mancunians who came to buy china for their mansions in Victoria Park and the like. Hayward had his own carriage, drawn by two fine horses and was quite a personage in the trade, being in turn vice president, president and chairman of the China & Glass Retailers’ Association. Lawleys eventually moved to a nondescript unit in the Arndale Centre, the original shop in Deansgate becoming a wine-bar.

Carving: Williams and Millson

Reference: Lancashire Life October 1976 (advertisement feature unnumbered page)
Reference: Beesley: Victorian Manchester & Salford no 59 (Barton Building)
Reference: C Hartwell, Manchester Page 245