Description

BURNLEY

SD8433SW COLNE ROAD
906-1/10/48 (West side)
02/05/95 Prestige Building (1937 range only)

II

Factory. 1937. By Wallis, Gilbert and Partners, for Burnley
Corporation. Red brick in stretcher bond with deep bands of
soldier coursing, concrete dressings (now texture-coated),
metal-framed and a flat roof concealed but probably asphalt.
Modernist style. Long rectangular plan parallel to road with
office block projected from the centre (extensive workshops to
rear not included).
EXTERIOR: 2 storey centre of 1:5:1 bays, with long
single-storey 4-window side ranges; symmetrical, and strongly
rectilinear; with white concrete plinths, sillbands, and
narrow sunk friezes with simple projected cornices. The centre
has a giant 5-bay rectangular recess with splayed concrete
reveals moulded in 3 orders, a tall ground floor guarded by 6
free-standing concrete columnar lamp standards which have
vertical ovolo-and-fillet moulding and are surmounted by
ovoid-shaped metal lamps with oval glazing (resembling
helmets); a large square-headed doorway in the centre with
glazed double doors furnished with long pendent brass handles
curved at the foot and a large rectangular overlight with Art
Deco curvilinear glazing bars; one large square-headed window
in each of the other bays; a broad band of soldier coursing
over these openings, and continuous fenestration at 1st floor
with a rippled concrete apron. The outer bays each have a
2-storey window to the height of the recess, and the
"entablature" to the whole of this block is a thick sandwich
of stretcher bond between bands of soldier coursing (now with
"THE PRESTIGE GROUP PLC" in large attached lettering). The
4-window set-back side ranges are lower and have wide oblong
3-light windows with flat-faced concrete mullions and concrete
lintels. The 2-window left return is in matching style; the
right-hand return has an exposed basement with former loading
bay.
INTERIOR: fine entrance hall containing doglegged staircase
with smooth marble wall and brass handrail.
HISTORY: built by Burnley Corporation development Committee to
ameliorate the effects of the decline of the cotton industry
in the town; designed by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners,
architects of (inter alia) the Firestone Factory, Brentwood,
and the Hoover Factory in London.

Listing NGR: SD8420933171

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26560971

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)