Misplaced Pages

The Storey
Storey Institute
The Storey
Coordinates	54°02′55″N 2°48′15″W / 54.0487°N 2.8043°W / 54.0487; -2.8043
OS grid reference	SD 474,617
Built	1887–1891
Built for	Lancaster City Council
Architect	Paley, Austin and Paley Austin and Paley
Architectural style(s)	Jacobean Revival
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Storey Institute
Designated	18 February 1970
Reference no.	1194973
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Storey Institute, Back Entrance
Designated	22 December 1953
Reference no.	1194906
Location in Lancaster

The Storey, formerly the Storey Institute, is a multi-purpose building located at the corner of Meeting House Lane and Castle Hill in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. Its main part is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building, with its back entrance being listed separately, also at Grade II.

History

The building was constructed between 1887 and 1891 as a replacement for the Lancaster Mechanic's Institute, to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. It was paid for by Thomas Storey, a local businessman who had been mayor in the year of the Jubilee, and was renamed the Storey Institute in his honour in 1891. Its purpose was "the promotion of art, science, literature, and technical instruction". The building was designed by the architects Paley, Austin and Paley whose office stood nearby. It contained a reading room, a library, a lecture room, a laboratory, a music room, a picture gallery, a school of art, and accommodation for a caretaker. The building cost about £12,000 (equivalent to £1,660,000 in 2023). In 1906–08 it was extended to commemorate the accession of Edward VII. This was designed by the successors in the architectural practice, Austin and Paley, to provide more rooms for teaching. Thomas Storey's son, Herbert, paid £10,000 towards the cost of the extension, which almost doubled the size of the building.

Over the years, the building has been housed the City Art Gallery, the public library, a girls’ grammar school, and from the 1950s to 1982, Lancaster College of Art. The opening art exhibition, held in 1889, included paintings by Gainsborough, Constable, and Canaletto. The art collection included paintings by local artists including Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch and William Hoggatt. In the 1960s there were touring exhibitions of works by Picasso, Matisse, and Francis Bacon. The art collection was moved in 1968 to Lancaster City Museum. By the 1980s the gallery was rarely used, but in 1991 a group of local artists re-established it as the Storey Gallery, and delivered a continuous programme of over 100 exhibitions of contemporary art until 2013. The exhibition programme included one-person shows by Andy Goldsworthy, Gillian Ayres, Basil Beattie, Michael Brennand-Wood, Simon Callery, Anthony Green, Albert Irvin, Michael Kenny, Sophie Ryder, and Richard Wilson, plus touring exhibitions from Japan, Spain, and Italy, and a variety of curated group shows. In 1998 the walled gardens behind the institute were laid out as an art work, The Tasting Garden, by Mark Dion.

In the early 21st century the institute was converted into a multi-use building by Lancaster City Council, and was renamed The Storey. It provided accommodation for small businesses, a café, galleries and exhibitions areas, workshops, and an information centre. The architects were Mason Gillibrand Architects of Caton.

Architecture

Main building

The building is constructed in sandstone ashlar with slate roofs, and is in Jacobean Revival style. It has façades on two fronts, with a turret on the corner. The turret is octagonal, with a lead dome surmounted by a spirelet. The building is in two storeys plus attics, above which are gables, some shaped and some segmental. Inside the building, on the first floor, is a curved window containing stained glass designed by Jowett of Shrigley and Hunt depicting representations of the arts. Also on this floor is a top-lit exhibition gallery.

Back entrance

This consists of a portico in Roman Doric style with two columns supporting a triglyph frieze and a cornice. At its summit is a pediment decorated with dentils. It contains its original wrought iron gates and overthrow. The structure was moved from an 18th-century house that was demolished in 1921, and rebuilt on the present site. The entrance leads to walled gardens behind the institute.

See also

• Listed buildings in Lancaster, Lancashire
• List of works by Paley, Austin and Paley
• List of non-ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1895–1914)

References

1. ^ Historic England, "Storey Institute, Lancaster (1194973)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 20 September 2012
2. ^ Historic England, "Storey Institute, Back Entrance, Lancaster (1194906)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 20 September 2012
3. Brandwood et al. 2012, pp. 169–170.
4. Brandwood et al. 2012, pp. 169–170, 236–237.
5. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)", MeasuringWorth, retrieved 7 May 2024
6. ^ Morris 2001, p. 80.
7. Brandwood et al. 2012, pp. 170, 246.
8. The Gallery Space, Storey Gallery, retrieved 20 September 2012
9. Morris 2001, p. 82.
10. "Storey Gallery". StoreyG2. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
11. Hartwell & Pevsner 2009, p. 390.
12. "The Tasting Garden". StoreyG2. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
13. The Storey Creative Industries Project (SCIC), Lancaster City Council, archived from the original on 19 January 2013, retrieved 20 September 2012
14. Hartwell & Pevsner 2009, pp. 389–390.

Bibliography

• Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
• Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) , Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
• Morris, Edward (2001), Public Art Collections in North-West England, Liverpool University Press, ISBN 0-85323-527-9, retrieved 20 September 2012

External links

• The Storey - official site

v t e Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster
Grade I	Ashton Hall Ashton Memorial Borwick Hall Burrow Hall Claughton Hall Cockersand Abbey Cockersand Abbey chapter house Hornby Castle Judges' Lodgings Lancaster Castle Lancaster Priory Lune Aqueduct Old Rectory St Oswald's Vicarage Thurnham Hall   Churches   Gressingham: St John the Evangelist Heysham: St Patrick St Peter Hornby: St Margaret Melling: St Wilfrid Tunstall: St John the Baptist
Grade II*	Capernwray Hall Custom House Lancaster City Museum Lancaster Moor Hospital Lancaster Town Hall Leighton Hall Loyn Bridge Midland Hotel Morecambe Winter Gardens Quernmore Park Royal Albert Hospital Skerton Bridge Thurland Castle Whittington Hall   Churches   Arkholme: St John the Baptist Bolton-le-Sands: Holy Trinity Brookhouse: St Paul Cockerham: St Michael Lancaster: Cathedral Ripley School St John the Evangelist Over Kellet: St Cuthbert Overton: St Helen Silverdale: St John Tatham: St James the Less Whittington: St Michael
Grade II	Abbeystead House Cockerham Vicarage Conder Bridge The Dukes Greaves Park Hotel Grand Theatre Grizedale Bridge Hornby Village Institute Lancaster Carriage and Wagon Works Lancaster (Greaves) railway station Lancaster Moor Hospital Lancaster railway station Lancaster Royal Grammar School Leck Hall Lindeth Tower Littledale Hall Morecambe and Heysham War Memorial Queen Victoria Memorial The Storey The Stork Wennington Hall Windermere House   Churches   Borwick: St Mary Capernwray: Chapel Claughton: St Chad Dolphinholme: St Mark Ellel: St John Glasson: Christ Halton-on-Lune: St Wilfrid Lancaster: Christ Cemetery St Paul, Scotforth St Thomas Leck: St Peter Morecambe: Holy Trinity St John the Divine St Laurence Over Wyresdale: Christ Quernmore: St Peter Slyne-with-Hest St Luke Tatham: Good Shepherd Warton: St Oswald Yealand Conyers: St John the Evangelist St Mary
Unlisted	Carlisle Bridge Carnforth MPD Carnforth War Memorial Escowbeck The Gregson Centre Greyhound Bridge HM Prison Lancaster Farms Hazelwood Hall Heysham nuclear power station Lancaster bus station Langthwaite Filter House Lune Millennium Bridge Phoenix Street drill hall Plover Scar Lighthouse Stone Jetty Three Brothers   Churches   Aughton: St Saviour Lancaster: St Michael, Lancaster Moor Hospital King's Community Morecambe: Clark Street Congregational St Barnabas St Christopher, Bare Wray: Holy Trinity
Demolished	Aldcliffe Hall Central Pier, Morecambe Cockerham Priory Hornby Priory Lancaster Friary Lancaster Roman Fort North Western Hotel Over Burrow Roman Fort Old Loyne Bridge West End Pier, Morecambe Wyresdale Abbey
Listed buildings in	Arkholme-with-Cawood Bolton-le-Sands Borwick Burrow-with-Burrow Cantsfield Carnforth Caton-with-Littledale Claughton Cockerham Ellel Gressingham Halton-with-Aughton Heaton-with-Oxcliffe Heysham Hornby-with-Farleton Ireby Lancaster Leck Melling-with-Wrayton Middleton Morecambe Nether Kellet Over Kellet Over Wyresdale Overton Priest Hutton Quernmore Roeburndale Scotforth Silverdale Slyne-with-Hest Tatham Thurnham Tunstall Warton Wennington Whittington Wray-with-Botton Yealand Conyers Yealand Redmayne

• Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire
• Buildings and structures in Lancaster, Lancashire
• Paley, Austin and Paley buildings
• Austin and Paley buildings
• Buildings and structures completed in 1891
• Event venues established in 1891
• Educational institutions established in 1891
• 1891 establishments in England
• Tourist attractions in Lancaster, Lancashire