The Toast Rack, formerly known as the Hollings Building, is a

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

building in Fallowfield,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. The building was completed in 1960 as the Domestic Trades College. It became part of

Manchester Polytechnic Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

then

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

until the closure of the "Hollings Campus" in 2013. It was designed by the city architect,

Leonard Cecil Howitt Leonard Cecil Howitt (27 December 1896 – 20 May 1964) – often referred to as L. C. Howitt – served in both World Wars and was Manchester City Council's chief architect from 1946 until he retired in 1961. Life Leonard Howitt was born on ...

and is known as the Toast Rack due to its distinctive form, which reflects its use as a catering college.

Construction

It was to cost £650,000. The Municipal Domestic and Trades College was to be 134 ft high, also known as the Central School of Domestic Economy. The Clothing Institute wanted the building to be built. It would teach hair dressing, with beauty salons, and manufacture of clothing. The main building was known as The Prism, with consultants LG Mouchel, and main contractors J Gerrard and Sons of Swinton. It was opened by Princess Margaret on 8 March 1962, who had flown to Manchester Airport in a Heron aircraft. She also opened the Albert Memorial CE Secondary Modern School in Collyhurst. The site had cost £805,000. It was called the Hollings College for the Food and Fashion Industries. The architecture critic

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

described the building as "a perfect piece of pop architecture". It was Grade II listed in April 1998 by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

who describe the structure as, "a distinctive and memorable building which demonstrates this architect's love of structural gymnastics in a dramatic way". To others the building symbolises the ideals of the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Labour Party cabinet member Herbert Morrison was the prime mover; in 1947 he started with the ...

and architectural positivity following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Structure

The building's structure consists of a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

frame with a brick infill on the bottom half of each storey. The building is seven storeys high and its hyperbolic

paraboloid In geometry, a paraboloid is a quadric surface that has exactly one axial symmetry, axis of symmetry and no central symmetry, center of symmetry. The term "paraboloid" is derived from parabola, which refers to a conic section that has a similar p ...

frame continues on the exterior, hence the toast rack comparison. Although the building's unorthodox form is playful, its tapering shape also helps to divide space into varying sizes for larger and smaller classes. A semi-circular restaurant block is attached to the west and is informally known as the "Poached Egg".

History

Manchester Metropolitan University left their Hollings campus in 2013 as they consolidated their facilities towards the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

. The building was then put up for sale, being bought by developers for £4 million in 2014. There are plans to redevelop the building with flats, a leisure centre and a rooftop garden. In 2023 the Toast Rack and its adjacent buildings were put on the market with planning consent for a mixed-use development.

References

{{Manchester B&S Catering education in the United Kingdom Manchester Metropolitan University Grade II listed buildings in Manchester Modernist architecture in England Buildings and structures completed in 1960

Construction

Structure

History

See also

References