Have you ever wanted to spend a night at the museum?
Well soon you could, thanks to a partnership between the Science and Industry Museum and The Landmark Trust that will see the Grade I listed Station Agent’s House receive a new lease of life and reopen it as a residence for the first time in almost 100 years.
accessible holiday let will sleep up to 8 people, providing a new place to stay in Manchester and sympathetic new use for one of Manchester and the UK’s significant heritage buildings.
Situated on the corner of Liverpool Road and Water Street in the heart of Castlefield, the house was built in 1808 for John Rothwell, partner in a nearby dyeworks. It pre-dates and is adjoined to the museum’s Grade I listed 1830 Station. Liverpool Road Station was the Manchester terminus of the world’s first steam-powered, inter-city railway designed to carry both passengers and goods and its 1830 Station is the oldest surviving passenger railway station in the world.
The house then provided accommodation for the Station Agent at Liverpool Road Station before being converted for shop use in the mid twentieth century. Unsuitable for museum gallery use due to its size and layout as a former residential house, it has been used as offices since the Science and Industry Museum first opened on the site from 1983, when the shop frontage was removed, and a replica of the historic doorway reinstated.
Sally MacDonald, Director of the Science and Industry Museum says:
“We are delighted that the Landmark Trust will be bringing their expertise in sensitively restoring incredible heritage buildings to enable Station Agent’s House to be experienced by the public for the first time. At the Science and Industry Museum we explore ideas that change the world from our globally significant industrial heritage site. It’s our aim to bring into use every part of the museum’s site possible and along with the conservation and re-opening of the Power Hall with its much loved historic engines and locomotives, current repair work on the 1830 Station and plans for new galleries and outdoor experiences in the coming years, we are so pleased to be working with the Landmark Trust to lead on crucial work to this building as part of our plans to create a more sustainable museum and reveal new spaces and perspectives for visitors to enjoy.”
Anna Keay, Director of The Landmark Trust says:
‘The Landmark Trust is delighted to be working with the Science and Industry Museum at historic Liverpool Road, site of the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway station. The Station Agent’s House, around which the pioneering station was created, is an outstanding piece of industrial heritage. The building will be sensitively repaired and made available to all through self-catering stays and free public open days. As a charity, the Landmark Trust is committed to saving and sustaining outstanding heritage, and is thrilled to be playing a role in Manchester.’
