Holyoake House is a building in the NOMA district of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, which was completed in 1911. Designed by F.E.L. Harris, it was built for the Co-operative Union in memory of

George Holyoake George Jacob Holyoake (13 April 1817 – 22 January 1906) was an English secularist, co-operator and newspaper editor. He coined the terms secularism in 1851 and " jingoism" in 1878. He edited a secularist paper, the ''Reasoner'', from 1846 to J ...

. It is located alongside other listed buildings such as the

CIS Tower The CIS Tower is an office skyscraper on Miller Street in Manchester, England. Designed for the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) by architects Gordon Tait and G. S. Hay, the building was completed in 1962 and rises to 118 m (387 feet) in h ...

, Hanover Building and Redfern Building and is owned by Co-operatives UK.

Background

In 1906 the co-operative activist

George Jacob Holyoake George Jacob Holyoake (13 April 1817 – 22 January 1906) was an English secularist, co-operator and newspaper editor. He coined the terms secularism in 1851 and "jingoism" in 1878. He edited a secularist paper, the ''Reasoner'', from 1846 to J ...

died and the Co-operative Movement decided to commemorate him by building a permanent headquarters for the Co-operative Union. The building was designed by architect F. E. L. Harris, who had also designed the nearby Hanover Building in the year of Holyoake's death. It was erected in 1911 on Hanover Street and named Holyoake House. A plaque was erected outside the building dedicating the building to Holyoake's memory. In addition to Co-operatives UK, Holyoake House is also home to the Co-operative College, the

Association of British Credit Unions The Association of British Credit Unions Limited, commonly known as ABCUL, is the leading trade association for credit unions in Great Britain. ABCUL represents around 70% of credit unions who in turn provide services to 85% of the British credit ...

(ABCUL), Co-op News. and the Manchester office of The Phone Co-op. The building was extended in the 1930s, and a training centre on the top floor was destroyed by an

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, t ...

in the

Manchester Blitz The Manchester Blitz (also known as the Christmas Blitz) was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the German ''Luftwaffe''. It was one of three major raids o ...

of 1940. A collection of Holyoake's letters, papers and other writings are held in store in the National Co-operative Archive, also housed in the building, whilst the building itself received 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 ...

status on 20 June 1988.

References

External links

{{Manchester B&S Office buildings in Manchester Grade II listed buildings in Manchester Grade II listed office buildings

Background

See also

References

External links