Stained Glass and the Victorian Town: Rochdale Library, Museum, and Art Gallery

Abstract

Between 1850 and 1920 Britain saw an explosion in the use of decorative glazing in all types of public buildings. The enormous impact and significance of decorative glass produced for the palaces of commerce, civic pride, and recreation in cities and towns throughout Britain, with its connotations of opulence and luxury, has so far been largely overlooked. Rochdale, part of Greater Manchester, was a booming industrial town in the nineteenth century due to its cotton industry and became home to much impressive architecture, such as the Rochdale Library, Museum, and Art Gallery (collectively, now Touchstones), originally opened as a public library in 1884. The library contained a wealth of stained glass, now removed, which comprised imagery of significant local and national figures including a window dedicated to women authors. The art gallery and museum still contains glass by the important Manchester firm run by W. J. Pearce, which can be found on the staircase and by the entrance. The combination of mouth-blown and machine-made glasses used in the schemes reveals new ways of thinking about glass in architecture of the period and the role of stained glass as a relevant contemporary art form.