London Road Fire Station. This is & has been for many years one of my favourite pieces of Manchester architecture, designed and built between 1904 – 1906 by Woodhouse, Willoughby & Langham, the building used to be the home of Manchester’s fire department, the coroners court & police station.

For many years the building has been left untouched & undeveloped which is a real shame for such a unique piece of architecture. The dirty red terracotta isn’t typical of buildings in Manchester & probably used to overcome the acid rain & smog of early 20th century Manchester.

I heard on BBC Manchester recently that Manchester City Council was trying to buy the building back, & may at some point impose a compulsory purchase order.. The current owner, hotelier Alex Langsam, has proposed to re-develop the Grade 2 listed landmark into a hotel, offices for his company and a fire station museum.

Filed under: Manchester Architecture