Manchester Athenaeum
Manchester Athenaeum | |
---|---|
General information | |
Architectural style | Italian Palazzo style |
Address | Princess Street, Manchester, England |
Year(s) built | 1837 |
Technical details | |
Material | sandstone ashlar |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Sir Charles Barry |
Designations | |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | The Athenaeum |
Designated | 2 October 1974 |
Reference no. | 1270889 |
Other information | |
Public transit access | St Peter's Square tram stop |
The Athenaeum on Princess Street in Manchester, England, now part of Manchester Art Gallery, was originally a club built for the Manchester Athenaeum, a society for the "advancement and diffusion of knowledge", in 1837. The society, founded in 1835, met in the adjacent Royal Manchester Institution until funds had been raised for the building. The society survived financial difficulties to become the centre for Manchester's literary life. It ceased operations in 1938.
Sir Charles Barry designed the Athenaeum building in the Italian palazzo style, the first such building in the city. Manchester Corporation acquired the building in 1938.
In 2002, Manchester Art Gallery was extended by Hopkins Architects following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions to take in the Athenaeum.[1] It is linked to the art gallery by a glass atrium.[2] The Athenaeum is a grade II* listed building.[3]
Society
The Manchester Athenaeum for the Advancement and Diffusion of Knowledge
By 1838, there were over 1,000 members, each paying an annual subscription of 30 shillings.[8] The club then hit upon and survived financial difficulties to become the centre for Manchester's literary life.[6] A report about the society in the Sheffield Times in 1847 noted that it catered for the "mental and moral improvement" of the intelligent among the middle-classes and that the shared pursuit of "rational amusement" was an aid to bridging the social gap between masters and men. That report, and thus the society, directly inspired two societies with similar goals in Sheffield, confusingly both calling themselves the Sheffield Athenaeum.[5]
The society was promoted as "an institution for the benefit of the tradesmen, commercial assistants and apprentices, professional students, clerks, of this very populous and flourishing town". It also emphasised its admission of women, although in practice until 1844 they had limited membership rights, being barred from full engagement in its activities and from its management.[9] Charles Dickens and Benjamin Disraeli addressed its membership in the 1840s.[7]
Manchester Corporation acquired the building in 1938,[10] when the society ceased operations.[6]
Architecture
Sir Charles Barry, who designed the Royal Manchester Institution in the Greek Revival style, designed the Athenaeum in the Italian palazzo style, the first such building in the city.[10]
The building is constructed of
A central entrance porch with a
See also
- Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
- Listed buildings in Manchester-M1
- List of societies for education in Manchester
References
Notes
- ^ Manchester Art Gallery, Royal Institute of British Architects, retrieved 1 May 2012
- ^ Manchester Art Gallery Case Study (PDF), Royal Institute of British Architects, archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2013, retrieved 2 May 2012
- ^ a b c Historic England, "The Athenaeum 81 Princess Street (1270889)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 1 May 2012
- ^ Milner 2013, p. 74
- ^ ISBN 978-0-71902-461-0.
- ^ a b c The Athenaeum, Princess Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester, English Heritage, retrieved 1 May 2012
- ^ a b Frangopulo 1977, p. 104
- ^ a b Pickering & Tyrell 2000, p. 226
- ^ Gleadle 1998, p. 147
- ^ a b Hartwell 2001, p. 90
Bibliography
- Frangopulo, Nicholas Joseph (1977), Tradition in action: the historical evolution of the Greater Manchester County, EP Publishing, ISBN 0-7158-1203-3
- Gleadle, Kathryn (1998) [1995], The Early Feminists: Radical Unitarians and the Emergence of the Women's Rights Movement, 1831-51 (Reprinted ed.), St Martin's Press, ISBN 978-1-34926-582-4
- Hartwell, Clare (2001), Manchester, Pevsner Architectural Guides, ISBN 0-300-09666-6
- Milner, Stephen J. (2013), "Manufacturing the Renaissance: modern merchant princes and the origins of the Manchester Dante Society", in Wolff, Janet; Savage, Mike (eds.), Culture in Manchester: Institutions and Urban Change since 1850, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-1-52610-209-6
- Pickering, Paul; Tyrell, Alex (2000), The People's Bread: A History of the Anti-Corn Law League, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 978-0-56720-497-4