In what may be the most Middleton planning debate ever recorded, the former KHF Solicitors office, a.k.a. the Albion Buildings, and possibly the early work of iconic architect Edgar Wood, is set to be reborn as posh flats, on the strict condition that nobody ruins the aesthetic with mismatched blinds.
The three-storey site at 3 Wood Street, sitting handsomely in the town centre conservation area, is being transformed by Gurdip Singh of D&G Art Distribution Ltd. Plans approved by Rochdale Council will see the first and second floors converted into self-contained apartments, while the ground floor remains as office space, presumably for someone who likes to work beneath heritage ceiling roses.
While the building isn’t officially listed, it is locally recognised as a non-designated heritage asset and, whisper it, likely designed by Edgar Wood himself, Middleton’s answer to Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the absolute rock star of the Arts and Crafts movement (if your idea of a rock star wears tweed and designs staircases).
However, council conservation officers were quick to throw a stylishly carved spanner in the works. They flagged serious concerns about one proposed partition wall for the top-floor apartment, which would bisect a beautiful window bank, creating the architectural equivalent of giving the Mona Lisa a fringe.
“Different lighting behind the same window during darkness hours would undermine the building’s cohesive appearance,” said the officer, using words that suggest they’ve been personally traumatised by uneven light spill on Georgian glass.
Also flagged? The risk of “curtain chaos”, where tenants could ruin decades of visual harmony by hanging mismatched blinds. The horror.
As a solution, planners recommended sacrificing one of the bedrooms (RIP Bedroom 2) to preserve the symmetrical soul of the façade. Developers agreed, and permission was granted with conditions requiring the residential entrance to be both “high-quality” and historically appropriate, and that the original fabric of the building be preserved, possibly using cotton sourced from the dreams of William Morris.
From down the M62, we celebrate the return of this quietly magnificent building to residential life. And to any future tenants: please, for the love of Edgar, consult a curtain specialist. Your interior décor choices may now be a matter of civic pride.
