Ashton House

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 14 Mar 2012

Ashton House, near the junction of Dantzic Street and Corporation Street, is a student residence building for the Manchester Metropolitan University. It was built by Manchester Corporation and, when opened in 1910, was England’s first purpose-built model lodging house for women. At that time, Ashton House catered for 222 women who slept in dormitories with individual cubicles. The women cooked for themselves in communal kitchens. According to English Heritage (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/people-and-places/womens-history/buildings-that-celebrate-working-women/ashton-house/ ) “It is a sober yet well-articulated Arts and Crafts building that featured banded buff faience dressings and rubbed bricks with subtle castellation and the words 'Ashton House' picked out in stylish lettering”. In 1988, it was designated a Grade II listed building “as a subtle but impressive Arts and Crafts residential institution that has a particular historic claim as the first municipal hostel for women of such size and quality” (http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1197764 the National Heritage List for England). More photographs and information about Ashton House may be found at Manchester History Net (http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/tours/tour12/area12page47.html ) and Looking at Buildings (http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/cities/manchester/walks-and-tours/socialprovision/ragged-schools-and-ashton-house.html )

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