The Toast Rack ….. places I remember with affection

I remember vividly the first time I saw the Hollings Building in Fallowfield.*

Early morning Toast Rack, 2026

I was on one of the 40s from Withington heading towards the Oxford Road Corridor and in my case on to the city centre.

"Toast Rack" and "Fried Egg", 1959

The building was just nine years old back then and I pondered on its likeness to a toast rack.  

But then I wasn’t alone because the nickname the "Toast Rack" was pretty much what everyone called it. 

And by extension the low roundish former restaurant block on its the west side was known as the "Poached or Fried Egg” a name that I only discovered recently.

It opened in 1960 as the Domestic Trades College, became part of Manchester Polytechnic in 1977 and then part of Manchester Metropolitan University until the MMU vacated the site thirty-six years later.

Along the way it picked up a Grade II listed status and was mentioned favourably by  Nikolaus Pevsner.

I did visit it once but alas can’t now say why.  I might have been calling on a friend or attending a meeting, but I do remember marvelling at its design and in particular the differing size teaching area which were dictated by the design, but which offered up flexibility in the provision rooms for different class sizes.

That soaring shape, 1973

Not surprisingly the building has many fans as well as a few detractors and often crops up in articles of modern architecture, iconic Manchester buildings and has its own Wikipedia entry.*

From a far, 1959

So mindful of all those that have gone before me and not wanting to crib their research I will leave it at that, other than to say it was bought in 2014 for a pile of money and as of 2023 has planning permission for a mixed development and if I am right now sports a gym.

There will be those that mutter "Oh not another person discovering the Toast Rack" to which I will just say I discovered it 57 years ago but only just got round to writing about it.

And that is a shame because it is one of my favourite  buildings, playful but full of bold design.

Location; Fallowfield

Picture, Early morning Toast Rack, at 7 am courtesy of BJS, 2026 and the Toast Rack, 1959, M63957, and M63959 1959 and in 1973 M63959, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*The Toast Rack (Building), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toast_Rack_(building)