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Renold Building

university building in Manchester, England, UK

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ15272327
Source-derived summary

The Renold Building is a university building in Manchester, England. It was opened on 23 November 1962 for the Manchester College of Science and Technology (later UMIST) as part of a major expansion of its campus in the 1960s. The architect was W. A. Gibbon of the firm Cruickshank and Seward. The foundation stone was laid on 24 June 1960 by Sir Charles Renold J.P. LL.D (1883–1967), vice president of the college, and chairman of the planning and development committee, after whom it was named. The main contractor was J. Gerrard & Sons Ltd of Swinton.

Overview

The building, which is made of concrete, consists of a two-storey base supporting a six-storey tower. There is a large glass-sided stair tower on the side. Inside is an entrance hall on two levels with a large mural titled Metamorphosis, by Victor Pasmore.

The Renold Building contains a number of lecture halls of differing sizes, including a 500-seat theatre, two 300-seat theatres, and five 140-seat theatres. According to Pevsner's Architectural Guide, "The idea was to provide a central facility for rooms that would otherwise have been dispersed amongst separate departmental buildings.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Renold Building” as university building in Manchester, England, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Renold, Building and university.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1962, 1960, 1883, 1967—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Renold, Building and university providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Renold Building”, the useful work is to connect “university building in Manchester, England, UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15272327. Authority coordinates are 53.475, -2.234. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1962, 1960, 1883 and 1967.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Renold Building”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Renold Building primary sources, Renold Building archive and Renold research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Renold Building”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Renold Building” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.