London Road Fire Station, Manchester
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Historic building
London Road Fire Station is a former fire station in Manchester, England. It was opened in 1906,<ref name="Bonner198856"/> on a site bounded by London Road, Whitworth Street, Minshull Street South and Fairfield Street. Designed in the Edwardian Baroque style by Woodhouse, Willoughby and Langham in red brick and terracotta, it cost £142,000 to build and was built by J. Gerrard and Sons of Swinton. It has been a Grade II* listed building since 1974.
In addition to a fire station, the building housed a police station, an ambulance station, a bank, a coroner's court, and a gas-meter testing station. The fire station operated for 80 years, housing the firemen, their families, and the horse-drawn appliances that were replaced by motorised vehicles a few years after its opening. It was visited by royalty in 1942, in recognition of the brigade's wartime efforts. After the war it became a training centre and in 1952 became the first centre equipped to record emergency calls. However, the fire station became expensive to maintain and after council reorganisation decline set in. The building was the headquarters of the Manchester Fire Brigade until the brigade was replaced by the Greater Manchester Fire Service in 1974. The fire station closed in 1986, since when it has been largely unused despite several redevelopment proposals.
It was placed on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register in 2001 and in 2010; Manchester City Council served a compulsory purchase order on the fire station's owner, Britannia Hotels. Britannia announced in 2015 their intention to sell the building after nearly 30 years of dereliction. It was sold to Allied London in 2015 and renovation commenced in 2018 with the building to be redeveloped as a mixed-use comprising leisure and hotel facilities.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Construction
In 1897 the Manchester Watch Committee was considering a replacement for its fire station on Jackson's Row. A five-man sub-committee was set up and recommended a site on Newton Street. In 1899, George William Parker, who had designed fire stations in Bootle and Belfast, and been referred to as the "architect of the world's fire service", was appointed Chief of the Manchester Fire Brigade and asked his opinion on the proposal. Parker reported that the site on Newton Street was unsuitable and submitted plans for a fire station on a site bounded by London Road, Whitworth Street, Minshull Street South and Fairfield Street.<ref name="PCM Part 1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="B86p2">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="B88p51">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Parker's proposal was for a 7-bay fire station on a site more than double the size of the one proposed on Newton Street. The choice of London Road was influenced by its proximity to a development of warehouses on Whitworth Street and Princess Street. Parker convinced the city council to choose his proposals rather than those on Newton Street.<ref name="B86p2"/><ref name="B88p51"/>Template:Sfn
A competition, with prizes of £300, £200 and £100 (equivalent to £Template:Inflation, £Template:Inflation and £Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/yearTemplate:Inflation-fn) was organised to design the new fire station.<ref name="Parkinson"/><ref name="PCM Part 3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The competition drew interest from across the country, attracting 25 entries. The winning entry was by John Henry Woodhouse, George Harry Willoughby and John Langham, a team of local architects. Their design was based closely on Parker's initial plans.<ref name="Parkinson"/><ref name="PCM Part 6"/> The fire station was described by Fire Call magazine as "the finest fire station in this round world" before construction started.<ref name="B88p51"/><ref name="PCM Part 3"/>
The fire station was built between 1904 and 1906 at a cost of £142,000 (equivalent to £Template:Formatprice in Template:Inflation/yearTemplate:Inflation-fn).<ref name="Parkinson">Template:Harvnb</ref> The building's substructure and foundations were built by C. H. Normanton of Manchester. The superstructure was built by Gerrard's of Swinton at a cost of £75,360.<ref name="PCM Part 3"/> It was faced with red brick and terracotta by Burmantofts, a common choice for early 20th-century buildings in Manchester as it was cleanable and resisted the pollution and acid rain caused by local industry.<ref name="PCM Part 3"/> Other notable Manchester buildings from this era making use of terracotta include the Midland Hotel, the Refuge Assurance Building, the University of Manchester's Sackville Street Building and the Victoria Baths.<ref name="PCM Part 6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The building's exterior featured sculptural models by John Jarvis Millson representing the functions of the building such as justice, fire and water.<ref name="Bonner198856"/><ref name ="Parkinson"/><ref name="Bonner1986p3">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Wyke">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Pevsner">Template:Harvnb</ref>
The building had stained glass windows and the interior was decorated with glazed bricks, similar to other public buildings of this era in the city, such as the Victoria Baths. The similarities suggest the influence and adoption of a standard design by Henry Price's newly created City Architect's Department.<ref name="PCM Part 4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Operation
The building was opened on 27 September 1906 by the Lord Mayor of Manchester James Herbert Thewlis.<ref name="Bonner198856">Template:Harvnb</ref> In addition to the fire station, it housed a police station on Whitworth Street, an ambulance station on Minshull Street South,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> a branch of Williams Deacon's Bank at the corner of London Road and Fairfield Street,<ref name="PCM Part 2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Sfn a coroner's court, and a gas-meter testing station on London Road. The coroner's court and gas-meter testing station replaced the proposed public library and gym.<ref name="Bonner1986p3"/><ref name="Bonner86p5"/>
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The fire station contained flats for 32 firemen and their families and six single firemen.<ref name ="Parkinson"/><ref name="Pevsner"/> Facilities included a laundry, gym, billiards room and children's play-areas. The complex contained stables for the horses that pulled the fire appliances, and a blacksmith's workshop.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> There were electric bells and lights to alert firemen to an alarm, poles to expedite the firemen's response, suspended harnesses to allow the horses to be harnessed quickly, and electric doors.<ref name="Bonner1986p3"/> The fire station was also designed with foresight; the appliance bays were made wide enough to take motorised fire appliances.<ref name="Bonner198856"/> The station's first motorised fire appliance arrived in 1911, five years after it opened.Template:Sfn
The building has a Template:Convert hose tower<ref name="Bonner198856"/> and a ventilation system designed by Musgrave and Company to prevent the odour from the horses' stalls entering the firemen's living quarters. Fresh air was drawn in through the top of the fire station's tower, purified and circulated around the building. When the air reached the end of the circuit, in the stalls, it was extracted from the building. The system meant that the air in the building was replaced every 10 minutes.<ref name="Bonner86p5">Template:Harvnb</ref>
During the Second World War, the basement was converted into an air-raid shelter and an extension built in the yard to provide more space in the control room.<ref name="B8631">Template:Harvnb</ref> The fire services were nationalised in 1941, and London Road became the headquarters of Division C. In recognition of the fire fighters' efforts, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited the fire station in 1942.<ref name="PCM Part 4"/>
After the war, the Manchester Fire Brigade was again municipalised, and reorganised. London Road Fire Station was restored as the headquarters of the brigade and became the only fire station serving the city centre.<ref name="Bonner8626">Template:Harvnb</ref> A fire service training centre was established in 1948.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> At about the same time, the ambulance station closed and was converted into the fire brigade's workshops.<ref name="PCM Part 4"/> The control room was modernised in 1952, becoming the first in the country with equipment to record emergency calls.<ref name="B8631"/><ref name="Bonner8892">Template:Harvnb</ref>
The interior was refurbished in 1955. The exterior had been cleaned every year since the fire station opened, and as a result was in pristine condition when the building celebrated its Golden Jubilee on 6 October 1956.Template:Sfn
Decline
By the end of the 1960s, maintenance was becoming increasingly expensive, and the building's design ill-suited to modern fire appliances. Plans to replace the fire station were put on hold pending the formation of the Greater Manchester Fire Service.<ref name="PCM Part 5"/>
The building has been Grade II* listed since 1974,<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> the same year that the replacement of the Manchester Fire Brigade by the Greater Manchester Fire Service precipitated the relocation of the brigade's headquarters to a new facility in Swinton. As part of the reorganisation, London Road became the headquarters of the brigade's "E Division", with the station's control room responsible for two divisions covering the City of Manchester, the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and Tameside.<ref name=autogenerated1>Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Sfn
The reorganisation meant the number of appliances was reduced, until only three remained at the station.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The control room at London Road closed in 1979, replaced by a single computerised control room at brigade headquarters in Swinton.<ref name=autogenerated1/><ref name="B88122">Template:Harvnb</ref>
In the same year, following the establishment of Greater Manchester Police and a reorganisation of policing in the city, the police station in the building also closed. The closure left the ground floor on the Whitworth Street side empty.<ref name=autogenerated1/><ref name="B88122"/> The last tenants of the bank section, a firm of solicitors, and the fire brigade's workshops, also vacated the building at about the same time.<ref name="PCM Part 5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1984 construction work began on a £Template:Formatprice, Template:Convert replacement on Thompson Street and in 1985 the old London Road Fire Station was brought within the Whitworth Street Conservation Area.<ref name="Conservation Area">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1986 the fire service left London Road for its new fire station, London Road Fire Station closed and the building was sold.<ref name="PCM Part 1"/><ref name="Bonner86IFC">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="MEN2004">Template:Cite news</ref>
Dereliction and redevelopment
1986 purchase and decline
After the sale in 1986, the building was mainly used for storage whilst planning applications to convert it into a hotel were made in 1986, 1993, and 2001, with varying degrees of success. The coroner's court was the last to vacate the premises, in 1998.<ref name="PCM Part 1" /><ref name="MCCDec2009">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2001 the building was placed on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register.<ref name="BAR">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="BBC" /> By 2004 it was in steep decline, and momentum was building for the fire station's owner, Britannia Hotels, to act.<ref name="MEN2004" />
2006 plans
In February 2006, Argent proposed leasing the building from Britannia Hotels to transform it into a music and arts venue.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Manchester City Council backed the plans and refused to rule out a compulsory purchase order (CPO) if the owner did not act to redevelop the building.<ref name="MEN">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Britannia Hotels branded Argent's plans "unworkable" and proposed turning the building into a company headquarters, 200-bed hotel, and fire station museum.<ref name="MEN"/> A planning application was promised by March 2006, but by May none had been made. Work was carried out by February 2007 to make the building watertight and in autumn 2007 a proposal was made by Britannia to convert the building into a hotel.<ref name="MCCDec2009"/>
Britannia Hotels appointed Purcell Miller Tritton to draw up plans to convert the building into a hotel in 2008<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> but none were produced by May 2009 and the city council lost faith in Britannia Hotels' commitment to its redevelopment.<ref name="Burning Issue"/> The city council was concerned that the state of the fire station was limiting regeneration in the area, including a proposed government complex on the former Mayfield railway station site. The city council set a deadline of July 2009 for progress on redevelopment.<ref name="MCCDec2009"/><ref name="Burning Issue">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Britannia Hotels' proposal in July 2009 was to convert the fire station into a hotel with a 15-storey tower in its courtyard and promised a planning application by October 2009, but none was made and the city council's chief executive recommended issuing a CPO.<ref name="MCCDec2009"/><ref name="BBC">Template:Cite news</ref>
2010 CPO issued
A meeting of the city council in January 2010 approved a request for up to £5.25 million to cover the costs associated with the fire station's acquisition.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Britannia Hotels responded by pledging to make a new proposal by February 2010, rendering the CPO unnecessary.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Britannia submitted an application to turn the fire station into a 227-bed 4-star hotel in June 2010.<ref name="Guardian20-07-2010">Template:Cite news</ref> The Victorian Society praised the proposed conversion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> Manchester City Council decided to continue with the CPO.<ref name="BBC June 2010">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The city council issued a CPO on 5 August 2010.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Despite the plans being approved on 16 September 2010, the council continued to pursue a CPO<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> and solicited bids for a development partner in January 2011.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>
2011 CPO rejected
Britannia's objection to the CPO led to a public inquiry in April 2011.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> On 29 November 2011, the Department for Communities and Local Government confirmed the CPO had been rejected.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Despite Britannia's guarantee at the inquiry to proceed with the development, it reconsidered its plans. In a letter to English Heritage, Britannia said the proposed scheme was unsustainable for the foreseeable future. Britannia wanted to return to the rejected tower plan. English Heritage and the city council expressed disappointment. The city council offered to buy the building at market value.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2013 campaign for a second CPO
In February 2013 after a public meeting, the Friends of London Road Fire Station (FoLRFS) was formed<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to pressurise Britannia Hotels and persuade the council to attempt a second CPO. The group organised an online petition, fundraising events, public meetings, an online survey to discover locals' views, an art exhibition and public engagement with its history, and published the outcome of a Freedom of Information Act request on what the council had done regarding surveying the building and issuing urgent-works notices. In November 2013, Britannia applied to extend the 2010 planning permissions but despite objections the applications were approved on technical grounds in December 2013.
2014 second CPO started
The council considered applying for a CPO for the second time in September 2014 and confirmed its intention to do so in December 2014 and meet with FoLRFS in early 2015. FoLRFS received a grant from Locality's Community Assets in Difficult Ownership (CADO) programme to pay for public outreach work. On 30 April 2015, FoLRFS met Pat Bartoli, head of the council's urban regeneration team and Howard Bernstein who praised their campaign.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2015 owner sells the building
It was announced immediately after the meeting that Britannia Hotels had decided to sell the building.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> London Road Fire Station was put on the market on 1 May 2015<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> and expected offers of around £10 million while restoration is expected to cost £20–30 million. Allied London acquired the fire station on 16 November 2015.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2017–present: mixed-use conversion project
In 2017 the council approved plans to convert the building into a mixed-use development featuring a 91-room boutique hotel, offices, apartments, a cinema, a luxury spa, and various bars and restaurants. Although initial reports suggested the facility could open by 2019,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> construction work is still ongoing as of August 2024.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
References
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External links
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