Rose Hill, Northenden
Encyclopedia
Rose Hill in Longley Lane, Northenden
, Manchester
, England, is a 19th-century Victorian
villa, most notable as the home of Sir Edward Watkin, "railway king and cross-channel visionary". The house was designated a Grade II* listed building on 11 April 1991.
Sir Edward's father, Absalom Watkin, bought the house in 1832. Absalom Watkin was a wealthy cotton merchant and a diarist, recording life in early Victorian Manchester. Sir Edward extended the house in the late 19th century with "a single storey loggia
of the finest ashlar
with Doric order
pilasters ... toy battlements appear elsewhere. The interiors are especially fine." The house has spectacular stained glass: "The windows and doors all have very fine and imaginative art nouveau stained glass, with rose trees, birds and other flowers and plants and employing clear glass as part of the design."
Sir Edward made his fortune as the managing director of four separate railway companies at a time of vast expansion of the railways in mid-Victorian Britain. He also founded the Channel Tunnel Company in 1875, which undertook the first large-scale attempt to link England and France. He began construction of a larger version of the Eiffel Tower
on the site of the current Wembley Stadium
, but this was abandoned after a height of 155 feet had been reached.
In the 20th century, Rose Hill became a children's home, which closed in the 1990s and was later the subject of a wide-ranging investigation into child abuse in Manchester's care homes from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1970s a major landscape painting by the American artist Frederick Edwin Church was discovered at Rose Hill. The Icebergs had been bought by Sir Edward in the late 19th century for a reported £10,000 and subsequently forgotten.
Rose Hill was converted into flats in 2003 and most of the grounds built-over with private housing.
Northenden
Northenden is a suburban area and electoral ward of the city of Manchester in North West England. It lies on the south side of both the River Mersey and the M60 motorway, west of Stockport and south of Manchester city centre. Northenden is bounded by the districts of Didsbury, Gatley and...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England, is a 19th-century Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
villa, most notable as the home of Sir Edward Watkin, "railway king and cross-channel visionary". The house was designated a Grade II* listed building on 11 April 1991.
Sir Edward's father, Absalom Watkin, bought the house in 1832. Absalom Watkin was a wealthy cotton merchant and a diarist, recording life in early Victorian Manchester. Sir Edward extended the house in the late 19th century with "a single storey loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
of the finest ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
with Doric order
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
pilasters ... toy battlements appear elsewhere. The interiors are especially fine." The house has spectacular stained glass: "The windows and doors all have very fine and imaginative art nouveau stained glass, with rose trees, birds and other flowers and plants and employing clear glass as part of the design."
Sir Edward made his fortune as the managing director of four separate railway companies at a time of vast expansion of the railways in mid-Victorian Britain. He also founded the Channel Tunnel Company in 1875, which undertook the first large-scale attempt to link England and France. He began construction of a larger version of the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
on the site of the current Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
, but this was abandoned after a height of 155 feet had been reached.
In the 20th century, Rose Hill became a children's home, which closed in the 1990s and was later the subject of a wide-ranging investigation into child abuse in Manchester's care homes from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1970s a major landscape painting by the American artist Frederick Edwin Church was discovered at Rose Hill. The Icebergs had been bought by Sir Edward in the late 19th century for a reported £10,000 and subsequently forgotten.
Rose Hill was converted into flats in 2003 and most of the grounds built-over with private housing.