Brunswick Estate – History

Posted on by modernmoocher

1813

1836

1900

2025

Manchester Historical Maps

I was walking around town, with a view to updating my Ardwick Walk.

Idle curiosity took me toward the Brunswick Estate – that pocket of housing nestle twixt the Mancunian Way/River Medlock, Ardwick Green, Brunswick Street and Upper Brook Street.

A subset of the greater set of Chorlton on Medlock.

Back in 1813, a web of streets and enclosed fields, and more fields, along with small groups of higher status housing, but by the early 20th century it was very much a working class district, within which industry began to grow.

The population of Manchester expanded unstoppably throughout the nineteenth century.

Here’s a personal and insightful family history of the area, along with a broader history from the Evening News.

Extensive slum clearance in the nineteen sixties saw the area and its street names change, some erased forever in the new build.

In Manchester, in a vast belt immediately outside the central area of the city, there still exist all too many remnants of a planless, knotted chaos of dark, dismal and crumbling homes. Many of these crossed the verge of uninhabit-ableness long before their most elderly inhabitants were born.

Alfred Morris MP 1965

As recorded by photographer Roger Shelley.

Brunswick Street 1904.

Mancroft Walk W Higham 1969

St Paul’s and St Luke’s Brunswick Street W Higham 1970

Lamport Court W Higham 1970

One of three nine-storey blocks, containing two hundred and nineteen dwellings; also including Silkin Court and Lockton Court.

Litcham Close W Higham 1970

Harry Milligan 1903 – 1986 worked as the photographer at Manchester Central Library until his retirement in around 1968. He was instrumental in setting up the Manchester Region Industrial Archaeology Society in 1965. He volunteered at the North Western Museum of Science and Industry from 1968, assisting with reprographics requests. His knowledge of the history of photography in Manchester and the UK led to him taking on the role of Honorary Curator of Photography at the museum.

These are his photographs taken from the Manchester Local Image Collection.

Panorama of Brunswick with UMIST in the background.

Hanworth Close area terraced housing and flats 1972.

Staverton Close

Melcroft Close

Wadeson Road

Helmshore Walk – Skerry Close

Cherryton Walk

Cray Walk

Wadeson Road

Hanworth Close

Pedley Walk

Cray Walk – note the decorative brick relief

King William IV

Former Chesters then Whitbread estate pub was built in 1967. Closed in 1996 when it was converted to residential property. It had a brief spell 1991 to 1995 as brewery premises for the Dobbin’s West Coast Brewery, during this period the interior was stripped out to accommodate the brewery paraphernalia.

As a companion to the radical reshaping of Manchester see also All Saints, plus look around Brunswick Parish Church, close by the lost terrace of Hartfield Close.

In addition the Brunswick Street Launderette.

Ardwick Walk Again

Posted on by modernmoocher

1824

1904

2025

Previously in February 2022 I walked the fair streets of Ardwick.

Three and a bit years on it was time to see what had been coming and going on.

The Central Manchester Primary Substation on Travis Street is still there.

The building was cladded with a COR-TEN® steel envelope, the nature of which was relatively complex.

Corten steel sets itself apart due to the inclusion of unique alloying elements: chromium, nickel, copper and added phosphorous which gives the steel its self-protecting properties.

Architect: Walker Simpson

Immediately adjacent are Platforms Thirteen and Fourteen, bridged over the roadway by this vast concrete construction.

Platform 14 is primitive, I understand totally from an infrastructure standpoint because it’s on a bypass line on a bridge, but it gets too overcrowded and is windswept. The rest of the station is ok. Platforms 13/14 have not changed in 40 years, grim.

We the pass to the former BT Building – architects JW Hammond 1973.

Originally conceived as a hotel, there were no takers at the time, so it became the BT HQ.

Currently Marriot Hotel Piccadilly

Comprising 338 rooms, Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly is near a shopping district, a 10-minute ride from Etihad Stadium. Offering a location right in the centre of a beautiful neighbourhood, this comfortable hotel boasts a lounge bar along with city views.

It is supported on the most magnificent piloti.

Over the road the Holloway Wall 1968 – Grade II listed but its remodelling is in the air.

The developer’s architects now propose to ‘reimagine’ the artwork and incorporate it into the foyer of the new office building. However, this ‘reimagining’ requires large sections of the artwork to be removed by cutting away and ‘folding’ around 30% of the sculpture.

Modernist

The remainder of the UMIST site is also under threat – only the Renold Building is listed and to be retained intact.

Lecture Theatre, along with the Maths and Sciences Building.

Seen here under construction before the arrival of the Mancunian Way extension.

The Mancunian Way extension opened in 1992.

From beneath the roadway we can see the Ferranti Building.

Crossing over to see the Brunswick Estate, built in the Sixties and Seventies and recently refurbished.

S4B is a partnership leading the £106m regeneration of Brunswick, Manchester. The Brunswick Regeneration PFI is a combination of government funding, private investment and expertise that will revitalise Brunswick. Improvements will include council home refurbishments, new homes for sale and to rent and an improved neighbourhood design.

Pro Manchester

Long gone lost estate pub from the estate – King William IV a former Chesters then Whitbread estate pub was built in 1967. Closed in 1996 when it was converted to residential property. It had a brief spell 1991 to 1995 as brewery premises for the Dobbin’s West Coast Brewery, during this period the interior was stripped out to accommodate the brewery paraphernalia.

We take a jog around the block to see the concrete relief that clads the road ramp.

Where there was once a giant Cooperative Store there is now a light industrial and retail estate.

And the Honey Bear Discounter has become Spirit Studios.

And the Barracks has become the Fabric Church.

The Diocese of Manchester has been working in partnership with the Church Revitalisation Trust to open Fabric Church and refurbish the building, following a successful bid to the Church of England’s Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board.

We’re excited to be working alongside Fabric Church on the transformation of the Grade II listed former Ardwick Barracks in Manchester. This ambitious refurbishment project will see the historic site reimagined as a vibrant community hub, featuring a new worship hall, community café, offices, meeting spaces, and more.

Hexaconsulting

Alongside Ardwick Green Park there are new housing developments nearing completion.

Ardwick Green combines contemporary design with great light infused spaces, offering stylish homes with a modern twist, private parking, outdoor spaces and a welcoming community atmosphere an urban retreat that truly feels like home.

With the city just moments away, living at Ardwick Green will give homeowners easy access to Manchester City Centre and beyond with its vibrant social scene, bustling business landscape and extensive transport network on your doorstep. 

Step Places

The area is home to a mixed and mongrel bunch of homes.

Though these interwar flats, seen here in 1956, are now long gone.

Within the park is a glacial erratic, which arrived following the Last Glacial Period .

Without which much of what we understand as the modern age would possibly not now exist.

It appears to be green slate from the Lake District, the native underlying rock in this part of Manchester is a red sandstone.

Postcard of 1906

The Apollo of course prevails. – seen here in 1958

Architects: Peter Cummings Alex M Irvine

Opened on 29th August 1938 the interior decorations were carried out by noted interior designers Mollo & Egan with the Holophane lighting designed by R Gillespie Williams.

This Sixties municipal building remains a mystery.

Actor Harry H Corbett visiting his childhood area in 1969, he lived on Earl Street and later in Wythenshawe.

Ellen Wilkinson Humanities Building

Posted on by modernmoocher

Second time around, following my post in 2019.

A terminal halt on the Campus Capers walk.

Taking a walk around town on an overcast and intermittently showery Friday, we’re all here again.

Sat at home on an overcast and intermittently showery Monday, I took a walk around online archives.

1962 to 1963 Photos: Local Image Archive

The inner courtyard was originally paved, subsequently grassed over.

The lack of sunlight has resulted in the grass becoming both waterlogged and moss-bound.

As a former TMBC maintenance gardener I recommend raking out, aeration and a top dressing of light river sand as a remedy.

Ribapix 1964

The William Mitchell concrete panels are of a modular design, rotated to form distinct groups of horizontal and vertical rhythms. A number of the buildings elevations are clad in linear, diagonal and vertical forms, though the majority are curvilinear and organic.

Local Image Collection 1972

The Ellen Wilkinson building, home to Education and Communication, is one of the few buildings on campus named after a woman. She gained the nickname of ‘Red Ellen’ in her political career, due to her socialist politics and vibrant red hair colour.

Wilkinson was a successful Labour party politician and feminist activist, and a passionate and bold personality in the Houses of Parliament. She was made Minister of Education under Clement Atlee’s government, making her the second woman to ever get a role in the British cabinet. She was brought up and educated in Manchester, making her legacy on the Manchester campus even more significant.

Mancunion

Ellen Wilkinson is a large sized building with three blocks. There are six floors in C Block, five floors in B Block and seven floors in A Block.

There are three lifts and six main staircases within the building.

The floors are signed as Ground, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. This is slightly different inside the lifts where control buttons are marked as 0 instead of Ground.

There are link passages from A and B Block to C Block on levels Ground, 1 and 3.

The building was the work of George Grenville ‘GG’ Baines and Building Design Partnership.

This scheme pre-dates Wilson Womersley’s appointment as masterplanners for the Education Precinct but exists harmoniously with the later series of buildings. This is most likely due to the method of development before any ‘grand concept’. The incremental expansion of the University, following WWII, was largely dictated by the progress of compulsory purchase orders; this group was no exception. At the planning stages, the lack of a masterplan led to organising the wings of the buildings in an open, orthogonal arrangement. This would allow expansion in a number of directions, according to the next available site in ‘the dynamic situation’. The result was the creation of a small courtyard flanked by two five-storey blocks and a two-storey structure. All three buildings use the same pink-grey concrete. The plastic qualities of concrete were explored in both cladding and structural panels and the textural qualities exposed in the bush hammered columns, to reveal the Derbyshire gravel aggregate. The sculpted and moulded panels on the two-storey block and on the gable ends of the larger blocks were designed in collaboration with William Mitchell. The only other materials in the external envelope were the windows of variously clear and tinted glass. The window modules were set out against a basic geometry in three standard patterns and applied across the façade. This resulted in a clever interplay of vertical and horizontal expression. Phase II, a seven-storey teaching block, was not as refined in its details.

Mainstream Modern

if you have a moment to spare, why not ascend and descend the spiral stairway.

The seating area is almost intact.

This trio of abstract concrete forms, a B&Q Barbara Hepworth, has defied attribution, I adore it.

Similar curved panels have also been used at The Bower – Old Street London.

Roscoe Building

Posted on by modernmoocher

Local Image Collection 1964

The Roscoe Building is to the University of Manchester what the Renold Building was to UMIST; its purpose was the unification of disparate lecture rooms into one building. In this instance it was a central hub for the Faculty of Science. Both buildings are by Cruickshank and Seward and share traits, though the Renold has arguably more flare. In the Roscoe Building the ground floor houses the smaller of the two main lecture theatres, the larger is an appendage to the main building, but both are accessed from the main foyer. As one ascends, the five upper floors are served by a central corridor flanked by smaller offices and laboratories on one side and larger flexible teaching and seminar rooms to the other. The glazed stairwell is expressed as a separate element.

The appraisal of the scheme in the AJ Building Study made claim that, ‘aesthetically the relationship of this staircase with the main tower is scarcely resolved, but the design has achieved the aim of making this an exciting staircase to use’.

This was the aim of the architect – if all the seminar rooms and lecture theatres emptied at the same time, there was not enough capacity in the two lifts to move everyone. The climb up the stairs is rewarded with a good view of the city centre, a photograph of which was illustrated in the same pages. The clear expression of the component parts of this building is a functional response to the demands, but also the part of the formal language developed through Cruickshank & Seward’s practice. Strong volumetric forms became something of a motif in the work of both John Seward and Arthur Gibbon.

Mainstream Modern

The open entrance area has subsequently been compromised.

Photo: Richard Brook

Performance Electrical Limited was employed to carry out the full electrical refurbishment to the new reception at the University of Manchester’s Roscoe Building on behalf of Armitage Construction.

In common with the Renold Building the Roscoe has an elegant glazed staircase.

So I walked it up and down.

City Tower – The Renewal of Post-War Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

I was invited to the launch or Richard’s book, Richard Brook’s book – The Renewal of Post-War Manchester.

I was invited by Richard Brook to tick off the names of those attending the launch of his book.

The book was launched at the City Tower, part of the Piccadilly Plaza development.

We began at the top – up in the lift to floor twenty eight the Sky Lounge.

On display were the architectural drawings of the Piccadilly Plaza scheme – including my favourite spiral car park ramp.

Back to the ground floor to administer the entrance of exactly eighty eight participants.

Who were subdivide by coloured dot, into sub groups for the forthcoming tour – a tour of the sub basement.

Former home of the diesel boilers – temporary home to eighty eight and a bit Modernists.

A talk or two later and it was almost all over, biggest thanks to Richard, Manchester University Press, The Plaza and the Modernists.

Testament to one man’s healthy preoccupation with Manchester’s modern history and the legion of fellow travellers that have supported and encouraged him down the years.

PS don’t forget to take a look at Richard’s Mainstream Modern.

Ta-ra!

UMIST 2024 – Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

This may be the last time, may be the last time, I don’t know.

I’ve been taking a look around for several years now, but now the writing is now on the wall.

Anthony Holloway’s wall – the only listed structure on the site.

The site is sold, the contractors have arrived, stripping out the buildings earmarked for demolition.

The site is to be contracted – despite all efforts to have its integrity preserved.

The Pariser Building is to be retained.

Along with the Renold Building – which is already home to start up tech businesses.

The city council has approved Bruntwood SciTech’s change of use bid to transform the 110,000 sq ft Renold building into a tech and science hub.

In a joint venture with the University of Manchester, Bruntwood will create 42,000 sq ft coworking and business incubator spaces for businesses in the sector at the Altrincham Street building.

Place Northwest

Sister is Manchester’s new innovation district. A £1.7bn investment into the city, its setting – the former University of Manchester North Campus and UMIST site – is steeped in science and engineering history. Home to the UK’s most exciting new ideas and disruptive technologies, Sister is a worldclass innovation platform in the heart of one of the most exciting global cities. It stands as the city’s symbol of a new era of discovery that promises progress against humanity’s greatest challenges.

Sister Manchester

So it is with a bitter sweet feeling that I took a group of Modernist Moochers around the site this Saturday – a number of whom had been students there.

As a former UMIST student 1990-1997, I had a wander round the old site recently, sad to see it so empty and run-down.

So let’s take a look at the current state of affairs.


Manchester Arterial – A34

Posted on by modernmoocher

The A34 is a major route from the ports on the South Coast of England to the Midlands and the North West, with the standard varying from rural dual carriageway sections in the south to urban single carriageway in the north, and everything else in between.

Slade Lane junction, Rushford Park to Parr’s Wood, East Didsbury – to connect to Manchester Road to Cheadle. It continued on to Laneside Road as a residential road. Opened on 11 April 1923 by Mary Cundiff, Lady Mayoress, and Margaret Turnbull, daughter of Alderman Turnbull, Chairman of Manchester Town Planning Committee. Width was 100 feet and it was designed for tram tracks in the central reservation. The dual road carriageways were 20 feet wide. Manchester’s tram system was closed in 1949. The carriageways were widened and central reservation grassed over. Originally opened as A5079.

Laneside Road, East Didsbury to Schools Hill/ Wilmslow Road junction, Cheadle. Opened on 12 October 1959. The official opening was on 15 October 1959. Planning for the bypass had been halted by the war. In December 1949 Manchester Corporation stated that it was not a priority since the Corporation was only responsible for the 200 yards to the proposed bridge over the River Mersey and Cheshire County Council had not asked for a joint approach to Ministry of Transport to build it. Work was finally authorised in January 1957 and started in the June. Width was 90 feet with dual 24 foot carriageways. Expected cost was £600,000 to £700,000.

Sabre Roads

In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.

See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road and Ashton New Road and Ashton Old Road and Hyde Road and Stockport Road.

Charles Street Car Park – Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

Charles Street Car Park – M1 3BB

Hugging the railway viaduct twixt Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations, approximate to UMIST.

The entrance is extremely narrow so watch out for your alloys when you turn in. Ridiculous size for a modern car park – just terrible.

This car park has served me well on many occasions!

It is truly wonderful as car parks go.

Terribly maintained, regularly find human faeces and worse in the stairwell.

The pedestrian in a car park is taking you as high as is humanly possible – the upper tiers are now locked off.

Though it does remain a car park with a pub- the former Swinging Sporran now trading as Retro Bar.

Sackville Street 1902

Fallowfield Campus – University of Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

We visited the Lancashire County Archive where we were shown this brochure from the Building Design Partnership – BDP archive, which is held there.

The archive is open to the public.

I have previously led walks there to view the Apollo sculptural relief by Mitzi Cunliffe.

I am assured that the relief will be re-sited within the new development.

The Student Village was opened in 1964.

RIBApix

Local Image Collection

Plans are in place for redevelopment of the site and the demolition of the tower block and adjacent housing.

The scheme, designed by Sheppard Robson, would see 3,300 new bedspaces brought forward, taking the total number of units at the complex to 5,400, a net increase of 950. This is an increase of around 1,000 new units compared to the previous iteration of the project, approved in 2015.

Place North West

Althea McNish – Whitworth

Posted on by modernmoocher

Oxford Rd Manchester M15 6ER

Recently opened and on for a while, I was here first thing Saturday morning – here are the details of Colour is Mine.

Althea McNish was the first Caribbean designer to achieve international recognition and one of the most influential and innovative textile designers in the UK. Drawing on extensive new research, this exhibition explores McNish’s extraordinary career and her transformative impact on mid-century design, along with her enduring influence today. Highlights include items from McNish’s recently uncovered personal archive – much of which has never been seen before. Also on display will be examples of McNish’s original designs alongside her most celebrated textile and wallpapers.

Althea McNish: Colour is Mine is a touring exhibition from the William Morris Gallery, London, and has been curated by Rowan Bain, Principal Curator at the William Morris Gallery and Rose Sinclair, Lecturer in Design Education at Goldsmiths, University of London. Althea McNish: Colour Is Mine is part of a three-year research, exhibition and archiving project generously supported by the Society of Antiquaries through its Janet Arnold Award.

An extensive biography can be found here.

Her work collided with new technologies in printing and fabrics, along with developments in design which were very much of their time: a freer more expressive approach to drawing and colour – using observational drawing from natural forms and geometric pattern

Typically employing the techniques of wax resist and a wandering Indian ink line.

Her work for the leading manufacturing and retail companies extended across fabric and dress design, wallpaper and accessories.

I urge you to go and see it – several times, the show is so wide ranging and joyous, a fitting testament to a creative life well-lived.

UMIST Missed

Posted on by modernmoocher

Whilst Oxford Road echoes to the sound of Freshers fleet of foot.

UMIST is only home to fallen leaves and a palpable air of melancholia.

The last of the students have left and a crew of hi-vis workers are busy stripping the remains of days long gone.

We have all walked on by before and will again – though with heavier heart, into an all too uncertain future – for only the Holloway Wall is listed.

Now a grand redevelopment project has been unveiled to tend to that. According to the developer’s website, the plan promises to accelerate growth, partnership and collaboration.

Christened ID Manchester, the plans could see the area hacked into a glass maze of ultra-modern offices, apartments and hotels. 

Mancunian Matters 2021

UMIST – Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

Every now and then, I get the yen to come back here again.

Having included the site on one of my Manchester Modernist Walks, I pop by protectively just to make sure everything’s still there.

The custodians The University of Manchester may well be averse to listing and have already removed Chandos Hall.

Forever.

In addition, a whole block and a walkway have been subtracted.

Thereby placing the Hans Tisdall mosaics: The Alchemist’s Elements in jeopardy – currently held in storage, who knows what fate awaits them?

Discussions have taken place pre-lockdown, another year on and possibly the possibility of a positive resolution.

Consequently I always approach the site with a slight sense of foreboding, it’s Easter and there’s nobody about.

The trees are just about to burst into leaf, there are bright bursts of cherry blossom on the bough.

The sun shines down from a big blue sky, strewn with wisps of cloud.

Let’s have a look around – it’s springtime for UMIST and Modernity!

Holloway Wall – 2020

Posted on by modernmoocher

Of course I’ve been here before – and you may have as well.

And I’ve been to Huyton too.

Tony Holloway’s work also illuminates the windows of Manchester Cathedral.

As well as the panels of the Faraday Tower, just the other side of UMIST.

The wall is listed, fenced and obscured by the gradual incursion of assorted greenery.

It’s beginning to attract moss, amongst other things – just not like a rolling stone.

Like nearly everything else, it looks different each time you pass by, more or less light, new tags and signs – so here it is as of Saturday 13th June 2020.

Locked in during the lockdown.

Mitzi Cunliffe – Owen’s Park #2

Posted on by modernmoocher

293 Wilmslow Rd Fallowfield Manchester M14 6HD

We have of course been here before visiting Mitzi Cunliffe and her work – Cosmos

Mitzi Solomon Cunliffe January 1st 1918  December 30th 2006

This time we are taking a peek around the back.

Having passed by on the top deck deck of the 42 on my way home to Stockport, I espied an extension of the sculpture to the rear of the tower.

I vowed to return!

Fighting through extraction units, wheelie bins, hoppers, plus a disused and disabused vacuum cleaner, I found myself in the narrow service area, where I did my best to get back from the wall, hard against the chain link fence.

The things you do.

For some much needed light relief, air and open space I revisited the front face of the tower.

Tony Holloway Sculptural Wall – Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

Sculptural wall and sound buffer – 1968 by Antony Holloway in collaboration with architect Harry M Fairhurst.

Concrete approximately 68 metres long and between 4.5 and 6 metres high – Brutalist style.

Grade II Listed June 10th 2011 – Historic England

The only structure on the former UMIST site, now part of the extensive University of Manchester estate.

Regularly visited on our Manchester Modernist walks, along with his nearby architectural panels.

I have even ventured as far afield as Huyton in search of other exemplars.

This is work of the highest order and importance.

It sits by a busy London Road, behind an intrusive green steel fence, slowly acquiring a green patina – as moss and lichen attach themselves to the well weathered concrete.

Receiving occasional visits from the errant urban tagger.

It deserves much better – a lush grassed apron, discrete public seating, regular tree maintenance – respect.

We do not suffer from a surfeit of significant mid-century public art – its guardians should straighten up and fly right.

Right?

Ellen Wilkinson Humanities Building – The University of Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

I don’t usually walk this way – so I walked this way.

I discovered the rear of building, a building formerly only known from the others side, when seen from Oxford Road.

Whilst making my way from The Gamecock to elsewhere, I serendipitously discovered the other other side.

The Humanities Building now named the Ellen Wilkinson Building.

This Building Design Partnership scheme pre-dates Wilson Womersley’s appointment as master planners for the Education Precinct but exists harmoniously with the later series of buildings. This is most likely due to the method of development before any ‘grand concept’. The incremental expansion of the University, following WWII, was largely dictated by the progress of compulsory purchase orders; this group was no exception. At the planning stages, the lack of a masterplan led to organising the wings of the buildings in an open, orthogonal arrangement. This would allow expansion in a number of directions, according to the next available site in ‘the dynamic situation’. The result was the creation of a small courtyard flanked by two five-storey blocks and a two-storey structure. All three buildings use the same pink-grey concrete. The plastic qualities of concrete were explored in both cladding and structural panels and the textural qualities exposed in the bush hammered columns, to reveal the Derbyshire gravel aggregate. The sculpted and moulded panels on the two-storey block and on the gable ends of the larger blocks were designed in collaboration with William Mitchell. The only other materials in the external envelope were the windows of variously clear and tinted glass. The window modules were set out against a basic geometry in three standard patterns and applied across the façade. This resulted in a clever interplay of vertical and horizontal expression. 

Mainstream Modern

Ellen Wilkinson was born into a poor though ambitious Manchester family and she embraced socialism at an early age. After graduating from the University of Manchester, she worked for a women’s suffrage organisation and later as a trade union officer. Inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917, Wilkinson joined the British Communist Party, and preached revolutionary socialism while seeking constitutional routes to political power through the Labour Party. She was elected Labour MP for Middlesbrough East in 1924, and supported the 1926 General Strike. In the 1929–31 Labour government, she served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the junior Health Minister. She made a connection with a young female member and activist Jennie Lee. Following her defeat at Middlesbrough in 1931, Wilkinson became a prolific journalist and writer, before returning to parliament as Jarrow’s MP in 1935. She was a strong advocate for the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War, and made several visits to the battle zones.

During the Second World War, Wilkinson served in Churchill’s wartime coalition as a junior minister, mainly at the Ministry of Home Security where she worked under Herbert Morrison. She supported Morrison’s attempts to replace Clement Attlee as the Labour Party’s leader; nevertheless, when he formed his postwar government, Attlee appointed Wilkinson as Minister of Education. By this time, her health was poor, a legacy of years of overwork. She saw her main task in office as the implementation of the wartime coalition’s 1944 Education Act, rather than the more radical introduction of comprehensive schools favoured by many in the Labour Party. Much of her energy was applied to organising the raising of the school-leaving age from 14 to 15. During the exceptionally cold weather of early 1947, she succumbed to a bronchial disease, and died after an overdose of medication, which the coroner at her inquest declared was accidental.

Wikipedia

So here we are now – a significant building, named for a significant figure.

I wandered around, pale painted rectangular reliefs abutting darker rectangular reliefs. Strict window grids at a variety of heights. Warmer rounder rounded reliefs to the east, contrasting with their orthogonal cousins. A surprising courtyard contains a diminutive but charming concrete sculpture and an almost hidden exterior spiral stairway.

Sometimes it pays to get almost lost.