Albion Warehouse
| Albion Warehouse | |
|---|---|
 Albion Warehouse in 2016 | |
  Location within Greater Manchester | |
Alternative names | The Albion |
General information | |
Architectural style | Italianate |
| Location | Penny Meadow, Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England |
| Coordinates | 53°30′01″N 2°06′42″W / 53.50014°N 2.11168°W |
| Year built | 1861–62 |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | Albion Warehouse |
| Designated | 12 January 1967 |
| Reference no. | 1068001 |
Albion Warehouse (also known as The Albion) is a Grade II* listed building on Penny Meadow in Ashton-under-Lyne, a town within Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Originally constructed as a Sunday school in the mid-19th century, the building later served various functions and is now an office furniture warehouse.
History
[edit]The foundation stone for the Albion Sunday School was laid on Good Friday, 1861, by Hugh Mason, then mayor of Ashton-under-Lyne and a prominent local mill owner.[1] The building was completed and opened on Good Friday, 1862, and was reputedly the largest Sunday school in England at the time.[2] It featured an assembly hall capable of seating over 1,000 people, a lecture theatre, an infants' room, and 11 classrooms. In 1869 it also began operating as a day school and celebrated its golden jubilee in 1912.[1] The school closed in 1926.[2]
On 12 January 1967, Albion Warehouse was designated a Grade II* listed building.[3] Over the years, the building has served various purposes, including as a labour exchange, an army recruitment office, and a carpet warehouse. Since 1996 it has been occupied by Armstrongs Office Furniture as its head office.[2]
Architecture
[edit]Albion Warehouse is constructed in polychromatic brick with ashlar dressings and a slate roof.[3] It comprises 11 bays and two storeys, with projecting stair wings to the rear and a lower four-bay wing to the left.[3] The design follows the Italianate style, featuring a projecting plinth, a first-floor band, white brick striations, and a bracketed eaves cornice.[3]
Both the front and rear elevations are dominated by a central three-bay projection, which is pedimented and includes a round-arched two-light window with tracery on the first floor.[3] At the rear, this projection is flanked by stair wings that extend further and are also pedimented.[3] On the front elevation, either side of the central projection are elaborate ashlar door surrounds, incorporating columns with foliated capitals, a semi-circular hood, and a dropped keystone.[3]
Windows are symmetrically arranged: the ground floor features eight-pane casements with segmental brick-arched heads and keystones, while the first floor has semi-circular heads with an impost band and polychromatic voussoirs.[3] The building has a hipped roof, and each end is marked by a pedimented projection.[3] A decorative tower, styled like a campanile with a pyramidal roof, rises above the structure.[3]
The adjoining boundary wall includes decorative cast-iron railings (removed on the east side) mounted on a stone plinth, with gate posts.[3] Internally, the first floor contains a hall with arched bracing to queen-post roof trusses, along with surviving timber, cast-iron, and plasterwork details.[3]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- 1 2 "SJ9499 : Albion Warehouse (formerly Albion School)". Geograph. Archived from the original on 27 August 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
- 1 2 3 "Albion marks 150 years". Manchester Evening News. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Historic England. "Albion Warehouse (Grade II*) (1068001)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
