Upper Brook Street Chapel, Manchester
Encyclopedia
The Upper Brook Street Chapel, also known as the Islamic Academy, the Unitarian Chapel and the Welsh Baptist Chapel, is a former chapel
with an attached Sunday School
on the east side of Upper Brook Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock
, Manchester
, England. It is said to be the first neogothic Nonconformist chapel, having been constructed between 1837 and 1839. It was designed by Sir Charles Barry
, who later went on to design the Palace of Westminster
.
A listed building since 3 October 1974 (currently Grade II*), it is owned by Manchester City Council
and is on the Buildings at Risk Register, rated as "very bad". It was partially demolished in 2006. The Victorian Society recently placed the building on a list of ten most threatened buildings in England
and Wales
.
, shortly before he designed the Palace of Westminster
. It was constructed between 1837 and 1839 out of sandstone
, with a slate
roof. It is in English neogothic style. The building has seven narrow bays, with buttress
es and a lancet in each bay. The west end has a giant moulded arch
way, with an arched doorway at the ground floor with a window above. On the east end there is a rose window
. The corners are square, with pinnacle
s. The inside of the chapel had galleries
on three sides, and a ribbed, vaulted ceiling. The attached two-storey Sunday School is in the same style as the chapel, and has a triple-gable
d north side, with large arched windows on the first floor. It also has a canted apse
on the west end, and a lean-to
porch. The building was listed on 3 October 1974, and is currently classed as Grade II*.
The building marked a charge in the style of Nonconformist worship locations. Previously these were mostly built with brick
, and were plain, with the grander tending towards Greek architecture. Said to be the first neogothic Nonconformist chapel, Manchester's Unitarian Chapel was preceded by the Congregationalists' Congregational Chapel in March
, Cambridgeshire
, which was constructed in 1836 and is also in the neogothic style. Chapels built following the construction of these two resembled parish church
es more than the former style.
Chapel (built 1789, demolished 1836) upon its completion for baptisms, burials and marriages. It was originally constructed for the Unitarians
. The chapel was used for burial rites until at least 1857 (although the chapel has no graveyard
), as well as baptism
s until at least 1912, and marriage
s until at least 1916. Ministers at the chapel include John James Tyler (until 1853), William Henry Herford (1866–70), Philip Wicksteed
(circa 1890), John Trevor (1890–91, left to start The Labour Church
) and Edward Walker Sealy (1910-???).
The chapel was sold in 1928 due to changes in the district, and was subsequently used as a Welsh Baptist
Chapel. The chapel was then used as a Jehovah's Witnesses
Kingdom Hall
in the early 1970s. The most recent use of both the chapel and former Sunday School was for the Islamic Academy of Manchester between 1974 and 2006, when it was used as a mosque
, teaching centre and for outreach work in the Asian community. The chapel is currently vacant, with the Islamic Academy occupying the Sunday School. The building has been owned by Manchester City Council
since the 1970s, who purchased land alongside Upper Brook Street with the aim of constructing a large motorway into Manchester, which was never realised.
The building is currently owned by Manchester City Council
. A spokesperson for the council has said that "The Welsh Baptist Chapel is in poor condition due to the low standard of its original construction. It has been empty for some years while attempts have been made to achieve a sympathetic redevelopment of the site and secure the building's long-term future." An unsuccessful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund
for funding to repair the building was made by the Islamic Academy in 2003. In 2001 and 2005 the City Council commissioned structural advice regarding the building, prior to removing most of the roof, with the agreement of English Heritage
. The building is in need of £500,000 for emergency repairs, as well as an extra £700,000 to make it fully functional.
The chapel is currently on the Buildings at Risk Register, rated as "very bad". The Victorian Society recently placed the building on a list of ten most threatened buildings in England
and Wales
.
In October 2010 the Manchester City Council revealed that it was in discussion with a developer to "renovate the building and bring it back into use".
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
with an attached Sunday School
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
on the east side of Upper Brook Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock
Chorlton-on-Medlock
Chorlton-on-Medlock is an inner city area of Manchester, England.Historically a part of Lancashire, the northern border of Chorlton-on-Medlock is the River Medlock which runs immediately south of Manchester city centre. Its other borders roughly correspond to Stockport Road, Hathersage Road, Moss...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England. It is said to be the first neogothic Nonconformist chapel, having been constructed between 1837 and 1839. It was designed by Sir Charles Barry
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry FRS was an English architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens.- Background and training :Born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster...
, who later went on to design the Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
.
A listed building since 3 October 1974 (currently Grade II*), it is owned by Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
and is on the Buildings at Risk Register, rated as "very bad". It was partially demolished in 2006. The Victorian Society recently placed the building on a list of ten most threatened buildings in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
History
The chapel was designed by Sir Charles BarryCharles Barry
Sir Charles Barry FRS was an English architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens.- Background and training :Born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster...
, shortly before he designed the Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
. It was constructed between 1837 and 1839 out of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, with a slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roof. It is in English neogothic style. The building has seven narrow bays, with buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es and a lancet in each bay. The west end has a giant moulded arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
way, with an arched doorway at the ground floor with a window above. On the east end there is a rose window
Rose window
A Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...
. The corners are square, with pinnacle
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
s. The inside of the chapel had galleries
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
on three sides, and a ribbed, vaulted ceiling. The attached two-storey Sunday School is in the same style as the chapel, and has a triple-gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d north side, with large arched windows on the first floor. It also has a canted apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
on the west end, and a lean-to
Lean-to
A lean-to is a term used to describe a roof with a single slope. The term also applies to a variety of structures that are built using a lean-to roof....
porch. The building was listed on 3 October 1974, and is currently classed as Grade II*.
The building marked a charge in the style of Nonconformist worship locations. Previously these were mostly built with brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
, and were plain, with the grander tending towards Greek architecture. Said to be the first neogothic Nonconformist chapel, Manchester's Unitarian Chapel was preceded by the Congregationalists' Congregational Chapel in March
March, Cambridgeshire
March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. March was the county town of the Isle of Ely, a separate administrative county between 1889 and 1965, and is now the administrative centre of Fenland District Council.The town was an important...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, which was constructed in 1836 and is also in the neogothic style. Chapels built following the construction of these two resembled parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
es more than the former style.
Occupancy
The chapel replaced the Mosley StreetMosley Street
Mosley Street is a street in Manchester, [England. It runs between its junction with Piccadilly and Market Street and St. Peter's Square. Beyond St Peter's Square it becomes Lower Mosley Street....
Chapel (built 1789, demolished 1836) upon its completion for baptisms, burials and marriages. It was originally constructed for the Unitarians
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
. The chapel was used for burial rites until at least 1857 (although the chapel has no graveyard
Graveyard
A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...
), as well as baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
s until at least 1912, and marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
s until at least 1916. Ministers at the chapel include John James Tyler (until 1853), William Henry Herford (1866–70), Philip Wicksteed
Philip Wicksteed
Philip Henry Wicksteed is known primarily as an economist. He was also an English Unitarian theologian , classicist, medievalist, and literary critic....
(circa 1890), John Trevor (1890–91, left to start The Labour Church
The Labour Church
The Labour Church was an organization intended to give expression to the religion of the labour movement. This religion is not theological but leaves the theological for the individual to consider and contemplate.-History:...
) and Edward Walker Sealy (1910-???).
The chapel was sold in 1928 due to changes in the district, and was subsequently used as a Welsh Baptist
Baptist Union of Wales
The Baptist Union of Wales is a fellowship of Baptist churches in Wales.-History:The General Baptist minister Hugh Evans was one of the first Baptists to preach in Wales around 1646, in the parishes of Llan-hir, Cefnllys, Nantmel and Llanddewi Ystradenny, as well as in districts across the upper...
Chapel. The chapel was then used as a Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
Kingdom Hall
Kingdom Hall
A Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses. The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, for a building in Hawaii...
in the early 1970s. The most recent use of both the chapel and former Sunday School was for the Islamic Academy of Manchester between 1974 and 2006, when it was used as a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, teaching centre and for outreach work in the Asian community. The chapel is currently vacant, with the Islamic Academy occupying the Sunday School. The building has been owned by Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
since the 1970s, who purchased land alongside Upper Brook Street with the aim of constructing a large motorway into Manchester, which was never realised.
Current status and future
Parts of the chapel were demolished at the start of 2006 on safety grounds, with scaffolding holding up some other sections. As of March 2008 the building has very little roof, with the walls, floors and ceilings in poor condition. The annex was also declared unsafe, but has since been reoccupied.The building is currently owned by Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
. A spokesperson for the council has said that "The Welsh Baptist Chapel is in poor condition due to the low standard of its original construction. It has been empty for some years while attempts have been made to achieve a sympathetic redevelopment of the site and secure the building's long-term future." An unsuccessful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
for funding to repair the building was made by the Islamic Academy in 2003. In 2001 and 2005 the City Council commissioned structural advice regarding the building, prior to removing most of the roof, with the agreement of English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
. The building is in need of £500,000 for emergency repairs, as well as an extra £700,000 to make it fully functional.
The chapel is currently on the Buildings at Risk Register, rated as "very bad". The Victorian Society recently placed the building on a list of ten most threatened buildings in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
In October 2010 the Manchester City Council revealed that it was in discussion with a developer to "renovate the building and bring it back into use".