Appleby Lodge is a set of three-storey 1930s blocks of flats with eight entrance doors, opposite

Platt Fields Park Platt Fields Park is a large public park in Fallowfield, Manchester, England which is home to Platt Hall. Fallowfield lies to the south and Wilmslow Road runs along its eastern edge. Its north-eastern corner is close to the start of the Curry ...

Wilmslow Road Wilmslow Road is a major road in Manchester, England, running from Parrs Wood northwards to Rusholme where it becomes the Oxford Road. The name of the road changes again to Oxford Street when it crosses the River Medlock before reaching Manchest ...

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, two miles south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. The population of the ward at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorl ...

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 blocks are in a U-shape around a central garden.

Overview

The buildings consist of a group of three main blocks of flats in the Moderne style arranged around a central garden. They are in

red brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

with

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

s and flat roofs, and have three storeys. The windows and door frames are in steel. The blocks at right angles to the road have rounded ends, and the other block at the east end has a U-shaped plan. The flats have

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

ed balconies, those on the ends being curved. At intervals are flat-roofed porches, and above them are recessed stair towers with full-height small-paned windows. Appleby Lodge is run by Appleby Lodge Management Company Limited.

History

Appleby Lodge was designed by Gunton & Gunton with Peter Cummings (1879–1957), who was also the architect of the

Manchester Apollo The O2 Apollo Manchester (known locally as The Apollo and formerly Manchester Apollo and ABC Ardwick) is a concert venue in Ardwick Green, Manchester, England. It is a Grade II listed building, with a capacity of 3,500 (2,514 standing, 986 seats ...

theatre and the Cornerhouse cinema. It was built between 1936 and 1939 for Town and Country Consolidated Properties, with 100 apartments in total. Residents have included the architect Peter Cummings and Sir

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 ...

, conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, from 1943 to 1963, commemorated with a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

. The buildings were

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 2003. The original Crittall steel-framed windows were replaced in 2019. The buildings have been described by the architectural historian

Elain Harwood Elain Harwood Hon.FRIBA (10 June 1958 – April 2023) was a British architectural historian with Historic England and a specialist in post–Second World War English architecture. Early life and education Harwood was born on 10 June 1958 in B ...

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

as an "urban oasis". In 2020 Appleby Lodge was selected as one of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

's best looking streets by the ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

'' newspaper.

References

External links

Appleby Lodge website
* {{Facebook, pages/Appleby-Lodge/173153296064595 1936 establishments in England Buildings and structures completed in 1939 Residential buildings in Manchester Grade II listed buildings in Manchester Apartment buildings in England Art Deco architecture in England Streamline Moderne architecture in the United Kingdom

Overview

History

See also

References

External links