The Girls Institute Mill Street Ancoats Manchester.

THE MANCHESTER GIRLS INSTITUTE -Originally founded some eighteen years ago for the social improvement of the mill girls of Ancoats, the Society which now proposes to build the institute complete in its appointments for the general use of these girls has long outgrown its first scope. Ten branches have been established - in Longsight, West Gorton, Miles Plating, Bradford, Regent Road, Salford. Charlestown, Ardwick, Reddish and Knott Mill. ....  After considerable difficulty sufficient land has been secured in Mill Street, Ancoats, on which to erect a very substantial building. The area of the ground is about 1,070 square yards, and on this it is proposed to raise an Institute which will include baths, a gymnasium, reading room and other necessaries. The plans have been prepared by Messrs Darbyshire and Smith, architects, of this city. Messrs Darbyshire and Smith have designed a building which may be described as after the Italian Renaissance style. It will have a frontage to Mill Street of 75 feet, and will extend 128 feet back towards the Rochdale Canal. The front, which will run to a height of three storeys, is to be of Ruabon red brick, with red terra cotta facings. As, with the density of population in Ancoats and the small scope for outdoor recreation, even of the meanest kind, open air space is a prime need, it has been determined to erect the Institute on a quadrilateral plan, leaving the centre for some 28 feet as an entirely open space. The main entrance will be from Mill Street, with good staircase room both right and left. The basement will be devoted principally to the use of a gymnasium, an important matter for girls confined all day to the closeness and monotonous action of mill life. The gymnasium will be 63 feet by 39 feet. Separate baths, reached by a different entrance, are also in the basement, and space has as well been found for four of the classrooms of which the new building will have a sufficient number. After some consideration the Society came to the conclusion that, considering the indifferent cookery that characterises the poorer districts and the effect that a wholesome meal has on the general condition of a worker, it would be wise to provide a self-supporting restaurant, where girls would be able to obtain in comfort a cheap refreshing dinner. One of the matters to be dealt with is the establishment of a cookery class also, so that it is probable that with the coming regeneration of Ancoats the restaurant, if not superseded by good home cooking, will be managed by the girls themselves, perfected in their work by the teaching of the Society. The restaurant, with a large “social room” will occupy 52 feet by 33 feet of the front of the first floor. Kitchen, pantries and other conveniences for the preparation of food stand near. Separated by wide corridors there will also be classrooms, the library, and other offices in this part of the building. An excellently planned room for entertainments, lectures and similar purposes 60 feet by 40 feet will be on the upper floor. The height of this room to the apex of the roof will be 31 feet. The “cookery” classroom will also be on the upper floor, with classrooms for such subjects as may be found to interest the girls, who under new conditions of life may be expected to cultivate interests in other matters than those to which – if the factory girl is no more prone than is human nature in general – she is by the surroundings of her calling far more exposed. A “Clothing Club” room also is on this floor, with the committee room for the use of the Society. When the building is complete it will be, if not ornate, admirably adapted for its purpose, and it is difficult to see that the design of the architects could be greatly improved.  …. The land on which the institute is to be built was purchased from the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company for £1,300. The cost of the building is estimated at beyond £5,000. [Manchester Guardian 14 October 1890 page 9 with illustration}

THE MANCHESTER GIRLS INSTITUTE - The new premises which have been erected in Mill Street Ancoats as the headquarters of the Manchester Mill and Working Girls Society, are fast approaching completion, and will be opened in the course of a few weeks. …..  In addition to the large hall and many classrooms, in which the work of the Society, now carried on in several buildings, will in future be conducted, arrangements have been made for the establishment of a self-supporting restaurant where girls can comfortably have cheap dinners, and rooms for instruction in practical cookery, dress-making and laundry work. The building will also contain a library and other appliances of an educational nature, with gymnasium and recreation room, and several bathrooms, each department being under special management. [Manchester Guardian 16 December 1891 page 5]

MANCHESTER GIRLS INSTITUTE. OPENING BY LADY ABERDEEN – On Saturday afternoon, with appropriate ceremony, the Countess of Aberdeen opened the Girls Institute in Mill Street, Ancoats. The Institute buildings have been in use for some time, as was stated in Saturday’s Guardian {Manchester Guardian 11 April 1892 page 6]

Reference    Builder 23 April 1892 Page 327
Reference    Manchester City News 22 November 1890 Page 3 Column 2 - Foundation stone laid Saturday last 
Reference    Manchester Guardian 16 December 1891 page 5 - historical background
Reference    Manchester Guardian 14 October 1890 page 9 and illustration
Reference    Manchester Guardian Saturday 9 April 1892 page 9
Reference    Manchester Guardian 11 April 1892 page 6