Didsbury School of Education

Didsbury College of Education

The Didsbury College of Education, Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, England, is a campus of Manchester Metropolitan University. Originally a "handsome house of 1790", the building was massively expanded for use as a Wesleyan training college in the 19th century and then became a school of education.^[1] The college was designated a Grade II* listed building on 25 February 1952.^[2]

The original brick house can still be seen from the courtyard at the back of the college. The Wesleyans encased the building in a substantial Grecian frame, the architect being Richard Lane. The college comprises eleven bays. The Grecian order is from the Tower of the Winds and can also be seen at 84 Plymouth Grove,^[1] the home of Elizabeth Gaskell, which is broadly contemporaneous. The building has "sandstone ashlar facades, with rear and courtyard walls of red brick in Flemish bond with sandstone dressings".^[2]

Elliptical staircase

The interior contains a fine "entrance hall with [a] screen of reeded columns [and an] elliptical open-well staircase with wrought-iron balustrade".^[2]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Hartwell et al. 2004, p 445
2. ^ ^{a b c} http://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-458452-manchester-polytechnic-didsbury-school-o

References

• Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2004), Lancashire: Manchester and the South East, The Buildings of England, New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10583-5 

Coordinates: 53°24′43″N 2°13′49″W / 53.4120°N 2.2302°W / 53.4120; -2.2302