Temple Chambers 33 Brazennose Street Manchester

The first example of a building warmed and ventilated by a mechanical system that I wish to call your attention to is Temple Chambers, Manchester. This structure is in many respects unique, and was designed by one of your Hon Secretaries, Mr Edward Hewitt. It contains about ninety separate offices, and is lighted throughout by electricity. There is not a fireplace in any room. The whole building is warmed from a single coke fire in the basement. The tenants see nothing of the means by which they are supplied with air warmed to a suitable temperature. The system of warming and ventilation is that known as the Blackman Single Duct system. It is one of the simplest systems known, but is not so complete, in my opinion, as the double duct system I shall describe later on.

In the basement at one end of the building is fixed a Blackman air warmer and a 54 inch Blackman fan. The outside air is drawn through a large canvas screen or filter on which jets of water play continuously. The whole of the air entering the building must pass through this filter, where it is washed and cleansed from impurities. The fresh air is then drawn through the air warmer and propelled by the fan along a main air duct fixed under the ceiling of the basement. This duct runs the whole length of the building, and from it air-ducts lead to every room.

The wall, or partition, on each side of the corridor is honeycombed from end to end with these fresh air ducts, which deliver the air into each room through registers fixed about 7 feet from the floor, A register fixed in the bottom rail of each door allows the cooled or vitiated air to escape into the corridor, where it is laid hold of by a 42 inch electric Blackman (fixed at the head of the common staircase), and discharged into the open air. The temperature is under the control of the caretaker. By sending the air round the air warmer, instead of through it, the temperature can quickly be reduced to the normal temperature outside. [RIBA Journal 1895 Page 315]