Stephen Joseph Studio (Wright St German Protestant Church, Greenheys)

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 25 Feb 2015

The Stephen Joseph Studio, also known as the German Protestant Church, is part of the University of Manchester and is in the old district of Greenheys. It used to lie on Wright Street, a street which no longer exists as it was redeveloped ca 1955. The church was founded in 1853; prior to the First World War the number of worshippers is said to have been between 300 and 350, the average number of christenings and marriages each year being eleven and three respectively between 1855 and 1914. According to the University’s The Directorate of Estates and Facilities http://man-estates-fs5.ds.man.ac.uk/PSU/Building_Information/Building_Info.aspx?StrBL_ID=024AA&CampID=S10 , the present building was erected in 1900. The pastor was recalled to Germany a few months before the declaration of war and his deputy worked only a few months longer. As the congregation dispersed, the Church only just managed to retain its rights and status through the war and it took the Church community several years to come to life again after the war. Since then the Deutsche Evangelische Kirche, as it is now known has suffered long periods without its own minister, sharing the services of pastor with Liverpool and Bradford although a new church building was consecrated in Stretford in 1963. (http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/MossSide/WrightStGermanProtestant.shtml Genuki) The building’s main entrance lies on the west side, with a side entrance on the north. The east side features a rose window. The building houses seven lecture rooms, with space for up to 179 students. It is named after Stephen Joseph, who is credited with promoting the concept of "theatre in the round"; in 1962 he converted an abandoned cinema in Stoke-on-Trent into the Victoria Theatre, the first permanent theatre-in-the-round in the UK. In 1962 he was appointed as the first fellow of the Department of Drama at Manchester University. He later took up a lectureship at the university and was instrumental in helping to create the department of drama. Since the late 1970s the Mansfield Cooper Building has stood to the south-west.

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