Three Shops - 33, 35 and 37 Manchester Road, Middleton

Situated in the shopping centre of Middleton, this small block of shops must have made a very startling appearance in Edwardian Middleton. First, they are flat roofed, and secondly the front of each shop is defined by a broad panel of white glazed tiles, each patterned with three vertical lines of chevrons in green tiles. In between the panels are narrow bands of good quality facing bricks. Originally the shop fronts and all joinery fittings were painted white and the shop windows were divided into panes of near Regency proportion. The use of glazed tiles is of considerable interest in an atmosphere as polluted as that of Middleton, and it appears to have been intended to provide permanent colour and a self cleansing surface. The shop fronts have all been altered but the tiled panels remain, no surface in such conditions is ever self cleansing, however, and the original effect has been dulled. Washing down, as in modern office buildings, would probably restore the effect. [John H. G. Archer, Edgar Wood: A Notable Manchester Architect]