Great Northern Warehouse
The Great Northern Warehouse is the former railway goods warehouse of the Great Northern Railway in Manchester city centre, England, which was refurbished into a leisure complex in 1999. The building is at the junction of Deansgate and Peter Street. It was granted Grade II* listed building status in 1974.[1]
| The Great Northern Warehouse | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Location | Manchester, England |
| Address | 235 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN |
| Coordinates | 53°28′38″N 2°14′57″W |
| Current tenants | Odeon Cinemas, Lifestyle Fitness, All Star Lanes, Manchester 235 casino, NCP Manchester Ltd, Breakout Manchester |
| Construction started | 1885 |
| Completed | 1899 |
| Renovated | 1998 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | A. Ross |
| Structural engineer | W. T. Foxlee |
| Website | |
| The Great Northern Official Website | |
The warehouse was built to be fireproof with a steel frame on a rectangular plan, 267 feet long by 217 feet wide and five storeys high, with 27 windows on the east and west sides and 17 windows on the north and south ends. All four sides have friezes lettered in white brick reading "Great Northern Railway Company's Goods Warehouse".[1] It was built above the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal, and a dock beneath was constructed to allow goods to be transferred to and from canal barges via shafts and a complex system of haulage using hydraulic power.[2] The building could hold a total of 150 goods wagons across two of its levels, with capacity for a further 500 in its sidings. Its construction effectively wiped out the district of Alport Town, which had included 300 houses, and "Over 800 men were employed on the site. 25 million bricks, 50,000 tons of concrete, 12,000 tons of mild steel and 65 miles of rivets were used in its construction".[3]
According to Historic England, the warehouse is a "unique survival of a three-way railway goods exchange station, serving the railway, canal and road networks of the Manchester region."[1]
The development includes a cinema, casino, restaurants, bowling alley, bar, gym, and a multi-storey car park.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Great Northern Railway Warehouse. |
- Historic England, "Deansgate Goods Station and Attached Carriage Ramp (1268529)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 1 October 2012
- Hartwell, Clare (2001), Manchester, Pevsner Architectural Guides, London: Penguin, p. 210, ISBN 0-14-071131-7
- Parkinson-Bailey, John J. (2000). Manchester: An Architectural History. Manchester University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-71905-606-2.
