Following the recent announcement that we have received planning consent for student flats at 30 Mawdsley Street, we thought we’d give you a little history lesson on the building.
It was originally the Bolton Mechanics Institute and the above picture shows Anthony Trollope at the building’s opening on 7th December 1868.
The Mechanic’s Institute was designed by Bolton architect Richard Knill Freeman, who won an architectural competition for the building in 1866.
In 1887 the Bolton Institute Committee offered the building to the town to be converted into a technical school. This opened in 1892 and could accommodate 1,000 students.
The building has seen a number of uses over the years, most recently as a gym. With the new planning permission it should once again be welcoming Bolton’s students.
Photograph and information courtesy of David French. For more information on Richard Knill Freemans visit www.davidfrench.org.uk.