69 - 77 Lever Street



These houses were built during a period when the population of the city centre was mushrooming.  There was increasing pressure to accommodate the huge numbers of textile workers moving into the city.  These houses were first built in the 1780s.  This development was built by a plasterer called William Bradley.  One of the houses was built to accommodate a single family but the ones that were added later were apparently built as tenaments.  They housed multiple families and the top floors were set aside a loomshops. 

When they were built they had open rear yards over time that space was used to add further living and manufacturing structures, as you can see in the plan below.



Above my sketch map based on the 1888 map of the area
D- dwelling   OFF - office   PH - public house  WHSE - warehouse  FAC - factory








The houses have been restored and restructured to accommodate a number of educational and commercial ventures.




As you can see the building on the corner of Lever Street and what was Ancoat Street and is now Houldsworth Street was once a pub.  Today it offers a different sort of therapy.