Wedgwood Institute

The Wedgwood Institute is a large red-brick building that stands in Queen Street, in the town of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is sometimes called the Wedgwood Memorial Institute, but it is not to be confused with the Wedgwood Memorial College in Barlaston.

The Wedgwood Institute is named after the potter Josiah Wedgwood and stands on the site of the Brick House pottery works which he rented from 1762 to 1770. This was the second of his pottery works in the town of Burslem, the first being at the Ivy House works.

The basic design is by an architect called Nichols, but the elaborate decorations which form an integral part of the facade were designed by Robert Edgar and John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling, the father of Rudyard Kipling, emigrated to India while the building was still under constuction.

The building was commissioned by public subscription. The style of architecture chosen was Venetian Gothic and the building was constructed between 1863-69. The foundation stone was laid by then Prime Minister William Gladstone on 26 October 1863; the building itself opened 21 April 1869; the School of Art and Science opened in October 1869; the Free Library opened in 1870; and the façade was completed by November 1871.

People associated with the Institute

The building has played its part in the lives of many famous local people such as the scientist Oliver Lodge, the writer Arnold Bennett and potters such as Frederick Hurten Rhead and William Moorcroft.

The art students remained in the Institute until 1905 when Burslem School of Art was provided with its own building. The Institute still serves as the Burslem public library [ [http://www.stoke.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/leisure/libraries/burslem-library/] accessed August 2008] . It also acted at one time as an annexe for Staffordshire University and more latterly for Stoke-on-Trent College.

Decorative scheme

It is an ornate building coated with numerous inlaid sculptures, ceramics and a series of zodiac mosaics, the latter executed by Signor Salviati. [http://www.thepotteries.org/art/17.htm "Josiah Wedgwood Memorial Institute (sculpture)"] Over the entrance is a tympanum with portrait medallions of three people connected with Wedgwood's projects: these are John Flaxman, the sculptor, Joseph Priestley, the scientist, and Thomas Bentley (1730-1780), a business partner of Wedgwood. Above the tympanum is a statue of Josiah Wedgwood. The statue is in the middle of a frieze. Around the upper storey is set a series of twelve terracotta panels to illustrate the months of the year, and above them mosaics of the corresponding signs of the zodiac. [http://www.thepotteries.org/art/17.htm "Josiah Wedgwood Memorial Institute (sculpture) at Burslem"] . Around the middle of the building are ten terracotta panels depicting processes involved in the manufacture of pottery.The cresting at the top of the facade recalls the Doge's Palace. It achieved Listed building status (grade II starred) in 1972. [http://www.thepotteries.org/photos/burslem_centre/wedgwood_institute.htm "Wedgwood Institute - Queen Street (Burslem)"]

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