The Burnley Mechanics is a theatre and former Mechanics' Institute in the market town of

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. It was built 1854–55 and converted to a theatre in 1979.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

has designated the theatre a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The Mechanics' Institute was built 1854–55 to a design by

Todmorden Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax. In 2011 it had a population of 15,481. Todm ...

architect James Green. Sir Charles Towneley opened the institute in 1855. It was a club for "reading and discussion by an 'earnest few'". As the town grew, the institute increasingly became a social and cultural community centre. Architect William Waddington enlarged the building in 1888. Burnley Borough Council bought the building in 1959 and leased it to companies for a variety of leisure purposes. In 1979, the interior was reconstructed as a theatre. Burnley Mechanics was designated a Grade II*

on 29 September 1977. The Grade II* designation—the second highest of the three grades—is for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". It is described by Hartwell and

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

as "one of Burnley's best buildings". John Champness calls its façade "certainly the finest Classical façade in Burnley and among the very best of its date in the country".

Architecture

Burnley Mechanics is built in the

Palazzo style Palazzo style refers to an architectural style of the 19th and 20th centuries based upon the '' palazzi'' (palaces) built by wealthy families of the Italian Renaissance. The term refers to the general shape, proportion and a cluster of characteri ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

ashlar. Green's original construction is on a rectangular plan with five bays at the front; it is on two storeys. The ground floor has Venetian-style windows with round, rusticated arches. Waddington's extension at the rear of the building is on a slightly lower level. Its design matches that of the rest of the building, but the newer windows have architraves with

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s. On the second floor, there are central windows flanked by Corinthian columns and pilasters. The entrances to the building have coupled Corinthian columns.

References

;Footnotes ;Bibliography * * *

External links

* {{Borough of Burnley buildings Cultural infrastructure completed in 1855 Buildings and structures in Burnley Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire Theatres in Lancashire Grade II* listed theatres

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links