Trail:

Police and Fire Station

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Manchester, Police and Fire Station (former), Goulden Street

To the north-east on Goulden Street the character of the area is illustrated by the disused Police and Fire Station by J.G. Lynde. A forceful, even monumental, design of c.1870. A high windowless façade has a giant blind arcadeGlossary Term topped by a pedimentGlossary Term, all in stone. The rest is brick. Within the courtyard a tall channelled chimney. Mounted police were stationed here and the complex included stables. Lynde is better known for police stations in a workmanlike GothicGlossary Term, but something more akin to a stronghold was required in this notoriously lawless area. Its structure even survived a serious fire in November 2002.

In neighbouring ANGEL MEADOW, one of the most notable survivals is in Sharp Street: the former Ragged School, founded in 1853. It was built in 1869, an early and remarkably intact example of a purpose-built ragged school which is said to retain a little-altered interior with a ground floor partition which divided the reception class of wild street children from those who had been subdued!

Glossary

Arcade

Series of arches supported by piers or columns (compare colonnade). Blind arcade or arcading: the same applied to the wall surface. Wall arcade: in medieval churches, a blind arcade forming a dado below windows. Also a covered shopping street.

Gothic

The style of the Middle Ages from the later 12th century to the Renaissance, with which it co-existed in certain forms into the 17th century. Characterized in its full development by the pointed arch, the rib-vault and an often skeletal masonry structure for churches, combined with large glazed windows. The term was originally associated with the concept of the barbarian Goths as assailants of classical civilization.

Pediment

A formalized gable derived from that of a classical temple; also used over doors, windows etc. A broken pediment has its apex omitted. An open pediment has the centre of the base omitted. A broken pediment with double-curved sides is called a swan-neck pediment.

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