The Studio (now Arkholme), 1, Towncroft Avenue, Middleton

Photographic Studio of 1901 by Edgar Wood, adapted to a house in 1905. Built for the photographer, Charles Jackson, the brother of Wood's friend the artist, Fred W Jackson, and the man who brought Wood and Sellars together. The house has two flat concrete roofs covering 70% of the floor plan. It has now established that it was built in 1901, roughly two years before Wood met Sellers. It is generally believed that Sellers introduced Wood to concrete roofs but The Studio suggests that the two had experimented independently.  Threatened with demolition, Rochdale Council responded by serving a preservation notice and the building is now being conserved.

The house is of moderate size and is notable for an exceptionally large window, framed in timber and load bearing. Much of the interior detail has now been changed." [John Archer]

Reference           John Archer "Edgar Wood (1860   1935) A Manchester 'Art Nouveau' Architect." Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society (vol 73 400 1963-4)