Long Street Methodist Church and Schools is a delightful Arts and Crafts grouping of buildings designed in 1899/1901 by Edgar Wood in Middleton, Greater Manchester.
If you live in the North West or if you're an Art Nouveau geek - there's an opportunity to visit this beautiful building during Heritage Open Days from the 9th to the 17th September 2023.
This beautiful building is in my home town and, as a child, when I walked to school opposite, I was always intrigued by the way the courtyard gardens seemed to beckon me in. Inherent in the design is a lesson on how to turn a group of buildings into a place.
"Inherent in the design is a lesson on how to turn a group of buildings into a place.."
Inside the church is a font with a sculpture of a mother and child by Arts and Crafts artist, Stirling Lee. It's a striking sculpture that is full of humanity. It is so small in scale to the great nave it is situated in, but powerful beyond its size in its impact. I've been drawn to it over and over again. There is an overwhelming need to touch it and draw on its charisma.
What I've discovered about this building is that it keeps on telling. It speaks of an architect who was inspired by his own town and community to create a building in harmony with the spaces around it.
This isn't just an old building with historic interest: there's so much still to learn from this building and the philosophy behind it. How it fits into the industrial street pattern but still creates a space to breathe. From bricks and mortar and stone, Wood has created a place. Here be a lesson for architects today.
"This isn't just an old building with historic interest: there's so much still to learn from this building and the philosophy behind it. How it fits into the industrial street pattern but still creates a space to breathe."
Wood’s legacy goes beyond that of architecture. Edgar Wood’s buildings are evocations of place rather than individual statements – replicating the scale and pattern of surrounding streets and creating new places and spaces that engage people and community to this day. Remarkably he did this across the full gamut of building types – from churches, to banks, to shops and schools. His message was that it is possible to serve a community with architecture.
If you live in the North West or are an Art Nouveau geek - there's an opportunity to visit this beautiful building during Heritage Open Days from the 9th to the 17th September 2023. More here:
Heritage Open Days
Member discussion