Gaskell Memorial Tower and King's Coffee House facts for kids

The Gaskell Memorial Tower and King's Coffee House are two interesting buildings located on King Street in Knutsford, Cheshire, England. When they were first built, they had three main uses: they served as offices for the local council, a coffee house, and a special memorial to the famous writer Elizabeth Gaskell. She used to live in Knutsford and is often called Mrs. Gaskell.

The buildings were designed by Richard Harding Watt with help from W. Longworth. They opened in 1907. Their design mixes many different styles of architecture. Not everyone has loved the design, but it's definitely unique! The tower even has two pictures of Mrs. Gaskell: a stone bust (a sculpture of her head and shoulders) and a bronze relief (a sculpture that sticks out from a flat surface). These buildings are very important and are listed as a Grade II* building on the National Heritage List for England. This means they are considered "particularly important buildings of more than special interest." Today, the building is owned by Knutsford Town Council, but since the 1970s, it has been used as a restaurant.

History of the Buildings

The Gaskell Memorial Tower and King's Coffee House were built between 1904 and 1907. Richard Harding Watt designed them with help from W. Longworth. Originally, the buildings were meant to be council offices, a coffee house with a ballroom, and a memorial to Mrs. Gaskell.

Richard Harding Watt was a local businessman and a kind person who gave money to good causes. He had studied drawing but wasn't a trained architect. He designed many homes and other buildings in the Knutsford area. He often worked with other artists and architects to create the detailed plans for his designs.

The coffee house was called the King's Coffee House. It offered food and drinks, and also provided newspapers and magazines. Mr. Watt wanted to give people in Knutsford a nice place to go instead of just local inns and pubs.

Mr. Watt also wanted to remember Mrs. Gaskell, the famous writer. She had lived in Knutsford and based some of her stories on the town. Her novel Cranford is a great example. The building officially opened on March 23, 1907. One of Mrs. Gaskell's grandsons was there for the opening. Later, on September 29, 1960, a special plaque was added to the tower. This was to celebrate 150 years since Mrs. Gaskell was born. Today, the building is still used as a restaurant.

What the Buildings Look Like

The buildings are mostly made of sandstone, a type of rock. The top part of the tower is made from Portland stone, another kind of stone. The style of the buildings is a mix of many different ideas. It's mainly Italianate, which means it looks like buildings from Italy. It also has features from the Arts and Crafts movement, which focused on handmade items and simple designs.

A famous architectural expert, Nikolaus Pevsner, once said the building was like something you might see in Barcelona. He also thought some parts looked like they came from the Byzantine Empire, an ancient empire.

The Former Coffee House

The main part of the building used to be the coffee house. It has two floors. You enter through a doorway on the right that is set back a bit. There's an eight-sided column there with a carved stone above it. To the left of the entrance, there's a large oriel window. This is a window that sticks out from the wall. On the upper floor, there are three windows and a stepped parapet, which is a low wall at the edge of a roof.

On the left side of this section, there's a square tower. It has a small window that sticks out, and above it, a larger window divided by a big transom (a horizontal bar). At the very top of this tower, there's a dome-shaped lantern. On the left side of the tower, you can see an outdoor staircase and a tall, rounded window. Between the main coffee house building and the memorial tower, there's a space that forms a small courtyard.

At the back of the building, there are two large Doric columns. These columns were actually moved from a church in Manchester! You can even see the wheels that were used to transport them nearby.

The Memorial Tower

The memorial tower has a square shape and is about 21 meters (69 feet) tall. Each side is about 3 meters (10 feet) wide. It has windows that stick out on three sides near the bottom.

Above the window on the side facing King Street, there's a stone bust of Mrs. Gaskell. It's placed in a special carved-out space called a niche. On the right side of the tower, there's a bronze relief of Mrs. Gaskell. Higher up than the bust, there's another window that sticks out. Near the top of the tower, you can see blocks that stick out in a random way. Close to the very top, there's a row of windows that look like an arcade. At the very top, there's an open low wall and small tower-like parts.

The stone bust on the King Street side is a copy of a marble bust made in 1897 by Hamo Thornycroft. That marble bust was also a copy of an earlier plaster bust made around 1830–31. The stone bust wasn't there when the building first opened, but it was in place by 1913. The bronze relief was created by a sculptor named Achille d'Orsi. Richard Harding Watt had placed it on the front of the Knutsford post office in 1898, and it was later moved to the tower.

On the right side of the tower, above the bronze relief, you can see a list of Mrs. Gaskell's novels carved into the stone. Below the relief, there's a special carving that says:

THOUGH HE SLAY ME

YET WILL I TRUST IN HIM

On the front of the tower, below the window that sticks out, there's a plaque with this message:

THIS PLAQUE WAS PLACED

HERE ON THE OCCASION OF

MRS GASKELL'S 150th BIRTH

ANNIVERSARY, SEP 29th 1960

AND TO RECORD THAT THIS

TOWER WAS ERECTED

TO THE MEMORY OF

MRS GASKELL BY

MR RH WATT IN MARCH 1907

What People Think of the Buildings

The Gaskell Memorial Tower and King's Coffee House were officially listed as a Grade II* building on January 18, 1949. This means they are considered very important buildings.

The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner wasn't sure what to think of Richard Harding Watt's designs. He once said that Watt's buildings in Knutsford were a "monstrous desecration of a small and pleasant country town." But he also admitted that younger critics might call Watt the "Gaudí of England." Gaudí was a famous Spanish architect known for his very unique and imaginative buildings. Pevsner specifically criticized the tower and coffee house for "remorseless imposing of crazy grandeur on poor Knutsford."

However, writers who came later have been kinder. In the Buildings of England book series, authors Hartwell and others believe that Watt's other houses in the town show he was as talented as famous architects like Edgar Wood and Mackintosh. When describing the tower and former coffee house, they simply say they "may floor the unwary," meaning they might surprise or impress you!

Images for kids

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  Elizabeth Gaskell Memorial Tower

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  Courtyard between the tower (on the left) and the former coffee house (on the right)