The British Muslim Heritage Centre, formerly the GMB National College, College Road, Whalley Range, Manchester, is an early

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

building. The centre was designated a Grade II* listed building on 3 October 1974.

History and description

The college was built as an Independent (i.e. Congregational) college in 1840–43, the architects being Irwin and Chester. The site was in the new suburb whose development had been begun about 10 years earlier by Samuel Brooks; its name later became Whalley Range. The aim of the Lancashire Independent College was a project of the Lancashire Congregational Union to provide higher education for Non-Conformists who were excluded from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge until 1871. This included a new college building and moving the staff from

Blackburn Academy This is a list of dissenting academies in England and Wales, operating in the 19th century. Over this period the religious disabilities of English Dissenters were lifted within the educational system, and the rationale for the existence of a syst ...

which was then closed. The three founders were George Hadfield,

Thomas Raffles Thomas Raffles (1788–1863) was an English Congregational minister, known as a dominant nonconformist figure at the Great George Street Congregational Church in Liverpool, and as an abolitionist and historian. Early life The only son of Willi ...

and

William Roby William Roby (1766–1830) was an English Congregational minister. Life Born at Haigh, near Wigan, Lancashire on 23 March 1766, he was the half-brother of the poet John Roby; his parents belonged to the Church of England. He was educated at Wi ...

(minister of the Grosvenor Street Chapel, London Road, Manchester). The Blackburn Academy arose from courses of lessons given to prospective Congregational ministers by William Roby who was supported by the Manchester merchant Robert Spear. When the principal,

Joseph Fletcher Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 in Newark, New Jersey - October 28, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. Flet ...

, left for London the academy became the Lancashire Independent College and moved to Manchester. The college became known much later as the Northern Congregational College. The similarity of design to an

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to de ...

college is therefore easily understood. The marshy nature of the area, then called Jackson's Moss, meant that 4½ feet (135 cm) of peat had to be dug away before safe construction could begin.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

commended the "long, very impressive, ashlar-faced, Gothic front." The wings culminate in a "tall, fanciful" tower, with a "two-storey

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

oriel (window)." The entrance and assembly halls were re-ordered by

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known f ...

in 1876–80 and Pevsner considered them "disappointing, but the rooms along the

piano nobile The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hou ...

are very charming, their Gothic fireplaces, ceilings and doorcases nicely varied." During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it was used to house refugee academics, mainly from

Czecho-Slovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. The later name of the college was the Northern Congregational College, who used the premises until 1985 when they joined the Northern Baptist College in Luther King House, Brighton Grove. The building became the national college of the GMB in the late 20th century and trained many trades-union negotiators. The GMB sold the college in 2004 as it was considered too expensive to maintain. After a period of uncertainty, the building was purchased by the British Muslim Heritage Centre to "serve as a focus for Muslim heritage and identity in Britain". In January 2013 and 2014, the building was nominated for the Arts and Culture Awareness award at the British Muslim Awards. Nasar Mahmood currently serves as a trustee of the centre. He was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the Queen's New Year Honours List in 2019.

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{GMB (trade union) Former theological colleges in England GMB (trade union) Grade II* listed buildings in Manchester Grade II* listed religious buildings and structures Museums in Greater Manchester Proposed museums in the United Kingdom Religious museums in England Professional education in Manchester Christianity in Manchester Islam in Manchester

History and description

See also

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

External links