Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JL
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1282980
- Date first listed:
- 25-Feb-1952
- List Entry Name:
- Manchester Art Gallery
- Statutory Address:
- Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JL
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-06-11
- Reference:
- IOE01/07060/03
- Rights:
- © Mr Peter Sargeant. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1282980
- Date first listed:
- 25-Feb-1952
- List Entry Name:
- Manchester Art Gallery
- Statutory Address 1:
- Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JL
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JL
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Manchester (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SJ 84061 98025
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 05/06/2018
SJ8498SW
698-1/28/241
MANCHESTER
MOSLEY STREET (East side)
Manchester Art Gallery
(Formerly listed as City Art Gallery)
25/02/52
GV
I
Royal Manchester Institution, later City Art Gallery. 1824-35, by Sir Charles Barry. Rusticated ashlar (roofs not visible). Rectangular plan parallel to street and set back from it, with projecting central portico. Greek Ionic style.
EXTERIOR: two storeys with the appearance of one, plus a central attic; a symmetrical composition with 3:5:3-bay main range flanked by slightly-projected pavilions, the whole raised on a plinth, and with a pedimented portico of six giant Ionic columns, three-bay colonnaded side ranges with Ionic columns in antis, plain corner pilasters to the pavilions, a continuous plain entablature, dentilled cornice and plain parapet with moulded coping; plus a rectangular attic behind the portico, flanked by set-back parapets over the side ranges. The portico, approached by full-width steps, contains a large doorway with moulded architrave and cornice on consoles; the rear walls of the colonnaded side ranges have windows with plain reveals; the pavilions each have three sashed windows at ground floor with simple architraves and cornices, and three small rectangular panels above with statuary. The attic (forming a lantern to the entrance hall) has small windows with pilaster jambs, and a frieze and moulded cornice with roundels (etc).
INTERIOR: square entrance hall with stone imperial staircase, balustraded gallery on fluted Doric columns.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Manchester Art Gallery was the site of the first attack on artworks by suffragettes. On 3 April 1913 Lillian Forrester and Evelyn Manesta were discovered smashing the glass of paintings in Room 2. Thirteen pictures by artists such as Millais, Burne-Jones and Rossetti received damage estimated at over ÂŁ100 in total.
Forrester (who had a previous arrest) and Manesta were both associated with the militant suffrage organisation the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), formed in Manchester by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903. In court they explained that they were acting in protest at a recent prison sentence given to Mrs Pankhurst for her own suffragette militancy. While in prison, Forrester and Manesta were covertly photographed using new surveillance cameras and the pictures were circulated to art galleries across Britain to prevent further attacks. Despite this, other women followed their example and there were a spate of similar suffragette strikes on art galleries and museums the following year.
This list entry was amended in 2018 as part of the centenary commemorations of the 1918 Representation of the People Act
Listing NGR: SJ8406198025
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 388331
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 15-Dec-2025 at 21:09:08.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2025. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2025. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry