Description

MANCHESTER

SJ89NW ALEXANDRA ROAD SOUTH, Whalley Range
698-1/4/826 (West side)
03/10/74 St Bede's College
(Formerly Listed as:
ALEXANDRA PARK
St Bede's College)

II

Roman Catholic college, now school. 1877, by Dunn and Hansom
(unfinished). Red brick with matching terracotta dressings
(roof concealed). L-shaped plan (incomplete T-plan) formed by
main range parallel to road, with rear wing. Italian
Renaissance style. Four storeys and attic, 11 bays (2:6:3,
probably intended to be 2:6:3:6:2), the 2-bay south end
breaking forwards and a single-storey 3-bay porch projecting
at the north end; with moulded terracotta bands to all floors,
frieze enriched with scrolls, prominent modillioned cornice,
and pierced parapet punctuated by short piers with segmental
pediments. The windows have enriched terracotta architraves,
those at ground floor with pediments containing busts (all
different), and those at 1st and 2nd floors vertically linked,
with decorated panels between the floors and pediments at 2nd
floor; the 3rd floor has small square windows and the 2-bay
south end has an attic. The single-storey porch has a 3-bay
arcade of round-headed arches, the outer containing
segmental-pedimented windows flanked by piers with coloured
relief majolica panels, and that in the centre a doorway with
elaborate enrichment including twisted columns of deep blue
glazed tiling, segmental pediment, and frieze lettered "VENITE
FILII AUDITE ME Ps.33"; frieze over outer arches lettered
"BONITATEM ET DISCIPLINAM" "ET SCIENTAM DOCE ME Ps.118";
balustraded parapet; shield with bees, and various free-range
terracotta bees on other parts of wall. Interior: entrance
hall with 3-bay arcades of Corinthan columns (front) and
pilasters (rear), the latter glazed and opening onto a hall or
former chapel which has 12-bay aisle arcades of very narrow
round-headed arches; wide axial corridor.

Listing NGR: SJ8328295026

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26502661

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)