Debenhams

[kalaidascope]

Could anybody tell me the history of the building Debenhams is in on Market street, and in particular if it has ever been used as a hotel. cheers Ken

[Phil Blinkhorn]

The building used by Debenhams has never been used as an hotel.

It was built in the 1930s (there is a foundation stone on the High St side of the building which gives actual dates) for the John Rylands company who occupied the whole building. Rylands was a Cotton and General Goods Wholesaler founded by John Rylands (related to the Rylands of Warrington - the wire makers) and the John Rylands Library on Deansgate was founded by his widow in his memory.

Rylands was taken over by Great Universal Stores.

In the 1950s Pauldens, which had its own store on Cavendish St, suffered a fire which literally burnt its building to the ground.

They relocated to the lower three floors and basement of the Rylands building and shared the loading stages in Bridgeway.

Rylands maintained a customers and staff entrance on Tib Street, next to the Tib Street entrance to Pauldens and the warehouse staff entered by the loading stage stairs.

In the mid 1960s, when I worked as a management trainee for GUS, I worked in the building on the fifth floor. The layout and systems in the building were very 1930s in design and operation. Rylands eventually closed when GUS abandoned its sales force and expensive city centre warehouse locations and went to direct ordering.

The building was granted Grade II listed status in 1994.

[Phil Blinkhorn]

A little more on the building. It was designed by Harry S Fairhurst and Sons. Construction was started in 1929 and completed in 1932.

It was Rylands third warehouse in the city, the first having burnt down in the late 19th century, the replacement being outmoded by 1929.

Originally Rylands used its Manchester warehouse solely to distribute goods made in Rylands own mills around Lancashire.

In the 20th century the company became much more a general merchants and, during my time in the 1960s, they sold cotton and woollen piece and finished goods, clothing, haberdashery, hardware and carpets.

[MobBoss]

A bit more about the buiding currently.

Sub basement goes under part of high st and market street.

The building has a 6th floor you can only access by a staircase that is not known to many (even the staff). A memebr of staff was found hung from there back in the 70's and has never been used since.

Source: Ex store director and general manager

[Phil Blinkhorn]

Above the ground floor there are actually 7 floors. The sixth floor is windowless from the facade but was lit from a partial glass roof, seemingly now covered over and contained, in the 1960s, the comptometer room with dozens of young ladies beavering away on the company accounts, plus a trading floor. This was fully accessible by stairs and goods lifts in the centre of the building as well as the directors'/customers' lift which rose from the entrance in Tib St.

The seventh floor is a partial floor built above the roof level. This was only accessible by stairs and contained the staff canteen (with an excellent and cheap menu) and toilets. This can be seen if you stand in Piccadilly Gardens and look towards the Market St facade, where it rises above the parapet of the windowless sixth floor.

Thumbnail copyright P J Blinkhorn 2006

[xboxy]

In your photo Phil next to the dome with the flagpole is a large picture window which was the directors office overlooking Picadilly gardens
I have stood in this oak panelled room in around 1987 / 88
also the staff canteen was used as a ballroom with a beautiful parquet floor.

Also I remember being in the sub basement where there was a large steel door that no one had the key for and the two maintenance men did not have a clue what was behind it, just wish I had been a little more nosey

[Phil Blinkhorn]

The Directors' office to which you refer was probably the Directors' Office from the time of Rylands prior to the takeover by GUS.

In the 1960s, unfortunately, things were more mundane. The fifth floor contained a suite of offices along the Tib St facade. At 90 degrees to these on the Piccadilly frontage was the representatives' sample room.

Starting at the sample room, run by two ladies, one of whom (Vera if I recall, the other was Joyce) had a predeliction for purple in everything she wore, the next door at 90 degrees to the left was the entrance to three offices. The Managing Director, in 1965-1967, was a Mr Gambrill. He had one of the first Volvo 122s in Manchester as a company car. The Sales Manager in the next office was Mr Shaw. Two secretaries shared the middle office. I seem to remember Mr Shaw's secretary was called Hazel - she had a look of the lass who plays Carla in Coronation St.

Further along the Tib St facade were the offices of the Finance Director and his staff, one of whom was a very beautiful Jewish girl called Susan Solomons.

The canteen had a parquet floor but during my time in the building it was badly scuffed and needed work so someone must have put some money and effort into its restoration.

Which side of the building was the steel door? There was a sub basement connection under Bridgeway to the annexe building on Tib St as this was where the carpets and hardware departments were located and the goods for the annexe were unloaded on the main buildings' loading bays and transported across underground.

[xboxy]

Hi Phil,
The floor was very scuffed as I recall and the directors office was also in a state of disrepair but the view from the large window ( I would say 8' x 5' ) was amazing.

The steel door I wrote about I cannot remember where it was, the only thing I remember was next it was another door that took all my strength to open, this room contained a massive fan around ten feet in diameter that must have been connected to the ventilation system, when you walked into the room you could feel the fan drawing you closer and the noise was horendous.

sorry for being so vague but 20 odd years has taken its toll on my brain and I was only 16 / 17 at the time

cheers

Mike

[Phil Blinkhorn]

The fan must have been installed by Debenhams after GUS vacated the building.

Don't worry about the memory - as you get older, more distant events and locations become clearer!!

It's 41 years and 6 months since I left Rylands at the age of 19.

[xboxy]

Just another thought that popped into my head , I remember I think on the fifth floor was an old barbers chair , does this ring any bells ?