Now, I am following in the footsteps of Andy Robertson who wandered down Victory Street a few days ago.
It is one of those almost lost streets, which for most of its existence was called Nelson Street, and originally ran from Monmouth Street to Summer Place, boasting 29 houses, two pubs, a laundry, along with a Working Man’s Club and The People’s Institute.
Just when Nelson Street became Victory Street is unclear, but I guess it will have been when the City undertake a vast set of street name changes during the late 1960s or early 1970s.
But what escaped the cull of name changes was Wood's Buildings West, which is a narrow thoroughfare leading from Nelson Street to Eillen Grove.
The sign is still there, although it is much knocked about and I doubt will last into the next decade.
At which point Andy’s pictures offered up a number of promising research paths of which the People’s Institute seemed particularly intriguing.
What is left of it has been incorporated into the Sahjalal Mosque and Islamic Centre.
The People’s Institute was “established on Nelson Street in 1872 by members of different Christian faiths in Rusholme. The 'Peoples Institute' served as a Mission Hall for religious services, to provide educational and recreational facilities and where the first 'Boys Club' in Manchester was based.
In the photograph of the Hall is a notice in the window stating that the 'Penny Bank' was open on Saturday mornings”.*
A new hall was opened in 1910 with the name of the McLaren Memorial People’s Institute.
It is a place I intend to return to., along with Wood's Buildings West, but for now I shall close with the pub which carried the street sign on its gable end.
At present it is closed, and now belongs to the Mosque, but as late as 2008 it was trading as the Osborn House, although even then the writing was on the wall, or more accurately on the notice form the brewery announcing “Tenancy Opportunity”.
In more happier times it was one of the two pubs on Nelson Street and in 1911 was run by Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf, who lived in the property with their two daughters and Ada Sharpe who was employed as a domestic servant.
And here there may just be a clue to that sign for Wood's Buildings, because according to the 1911 census Metcalf's property consisted of four rooms, and yet the existing building looks larger.
Moreover, the OS map for 1896 shows 14 back to back properties stretching back into what was the car park. Seven of which faced out on to Wood's Building's West.
Location; Rusholme
Pictures; Nelson Street, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and in 1969,D. Wildgoose, m39128, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and in 1896 from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
*The Peoples Institute, Nelson Street, Rusholme, Rusholme and Victoria Archive, https://rusholmearchive.org/the-peoples-institute-rusholme
 |
| Wood's Buildings West, 2020 |
Just when Nelson Street became Victory Street is unclear, but I guess it will have been when the City undertake a vast set of street name changes during the late 1960s or early 1970s.
But what escaped the cull of name changes was Wood's Buildings West, which is a narrow thoroughfare leading from Nelson Street to Eillen Grove.
 |
| Victory Street, formerly, Nelson Street, 2020 |
At which point Andy’s pictures offered up a number of promising research paths of which the People’s Institute seemed particularly intriguing.
What is left of it has been incorporated into the Sahjalal Mosque and Islamic Centre.
The People’s Institute was “established on Nelson Street in 1872 by members of different Christian faiths in Rusholme. The 'Peoples Institute' served as a Mission Hall for religious services, to provide educational and recreational facilities and where the first 'Boys Club' in Manchester was based.
In the photograph of the Hall is a notice in the window stating that the 'Penny Bank' was open on Saturday mornings”.*
 |
| Nelson Street, 1969 |
It is a place I intend to return to., along with Wood's Buildings West, but for now I shall close with the pub which carried the street sign on its gable end.
At present it is closed, and now belongs to the Mosque, but as late as 2008 it was trading as the Osborn House, although even then the writing was on the wall, or more accurately on the notice form the brewery announcing “Tenancy Opportunity”.
 |
| Nelson Street, 1896 |
And here there may just be a clue to that sign for Wood's Buildings, because according to the 1911 census Metcalf's property consisted of four rooms, and yet the existing building looks larger.
Moreover, the OS map for 1896 shows 14 back to back properties stretching back into what was the car park. Seven of which faced out on to Wood's Building's West.
Location; Rusholme
Pictures; Nelson Street, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and in 1969,D. Wildgoose, m39128, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and in 1896 from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
*The Peoples Institute, Nelson Street, Rusholme, Rusholme and Victoria Archive, https://rusholmearchive.org/the-peoples-institute-rusholme
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