British Muslim Heritage Centre

{{Short description|Building in Manchester, England}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}

{{Infobox building | name = British Muslim Heritage Centre | former_name = GMB National College | image = The British Muslim Heritage Centre - geograph.org.uk - 6825028.jpg | image_alt =  | image_caption = British Muslim Heritage Centre | coordinates =  | architectural_style = Gothic Revival | address = College Road, Whalley Range, Manchester, M16 8BP | years_built = 1840–43 | height = | material = | size = | floor_count = | floor_area = | architect = Irwin and Chester | website = {{URL|https://bmhc.org.uk/}} | references = | footnotes = | designations = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Grade II* Listed Building | designation1_offname = GMB National College | designation1_date = 3 October 1974 | designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1197762|short=y|postscript=none}} }}{{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Grade II Listed Building | designation1_offname = Entrance Gateway and Gates to GMB National College | designation1_date = 2 October 1974 | designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1283094|short=y|postscript=none}} }} }}

The '''British Muslim Heritage Centre''', formerly the '''GMB National College''', College Road, Whalley Range, Manchester, England, is an early Gothic Revival building.{{sfn|Hartwell|Hyde|Pevsner|2004|p=483}} The centre was designated a Grade II* listed building on 3 October 1974.<ref name="BB">{{cite web |author=Good Stuff IT Services |url=http://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-388025-gmb-national-college-manchester |title=Gmb National College – Manchester – Greater Manchester – England |publisher=British Listed Buildings |access-date=2 September 2012 |archive-date=25 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325012746/http://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-388025-gmb-national-college-manchester |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History and description== The college was built as an independent (i.e. congregational) college in 1840–43, the architects being Irwin and Chester.{{sfn|Hartwell|Hyde|Pevsner|2004|p=483}} The site was in the new suburb whose development had been begun about 10 years earlier by Samuel Brooks; its name later became Whalley Range. The aim of the '''Lancashire Independent College''' was a project of the Lancashire Congregational Union to provide higher education for Non-Conformists who were excluded from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge until 1871.<ref name="BB"/> This included a new college building and moving the staff from Blackburn Academy which was then closed.<ref>{{ODNBweb|id=23041|title=Raleigh, Alexander|first=R. Tudur|last= Jones|authorlink=R. Tudur Jones}}</ref> The three founders were George Hadfield, Thomas Raffles and William Roby (minister of the Grosvenor Street Chapel, London Road, Manchester).<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Hadfield, George (1787-1879)}}</ref> The Blackburn Academy arose from courses of lessons given to prospective Congregational ministers by William Roby who was supported by the Manchester merchant Robert Spear. When the principal, Joseph Fletcher, left for London the academy became the Lancashire Independent College and moved to Manchester.{{sfn|Axon|1877|pp=69–70}} The college became known much later as the '''Northern Congregational College'''.

The similarity of design to an Oxbridge college is therefore easily understood. The marshy nature of the area, then called Jackson's Moss, meant that 4½ feet (135 cm) of peat had to be dug away before safe construction could begin. Nikolaus Pevsner commended the "long, very impressive, ashlar-faced, Gothic front."{{sfn|Hartwell|Hyde|Pevsner|2004|p=483}} The wings culminate in a "tall, fanciful" tower, with a "two-storey Gothic oriel (window)."{{sfn|Hartwell|Hyde|Pevsner|2004|p=483}} The entrance and assembly halls were re-ordered by Alfred Waterhouse in 1876–80 and Pevsner considered them "disappointing, but the rooms along the piano nobile are very charming, their Gothic fireplaces, ceilings and doorcases nicely varied."{{sfn|Hartwell|Hyde|Pevsner|2004|p=483}}

During World War II, it was used to house refugee academics, mainly from Czecho-Slovakia. The later name of the college was the ''Northern Congregational College'', who used the premises until 1985 when they joined the Northern Baptist College in Luther King House, Brighton Grove.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/searchresources/guidetospecialcollections/atoz/congregationalcollegearchives/|title=Congregational College Archives|publisher=John Rylands University Library|access-date=24 April 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703003750/http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/searchresources/guidetospecialcollections/atoz/congregationalcollegearchives/|archive-date=3 July 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The building became the GMB National College in 1985 and trained many trade union negotiators. The GMB closed the college in 2004 as it was considered too expensive to maintain as it needed a needed a major structural overhaul costing about £5 million.<ref name=gmb-20050606>{{cite web |url=https://www.gmb.org.uk/assets/media/downloads/2179/gmb05-daytwo.pdf |title=Conference - Second day's proceeding {{mdash}} Training & Education - GMB National College |pages=93-94 |website=GMB |date=6 June 2005 |access-date=6 January 2026 |archive-date=16 January 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260116125849/https://www.gmb.org.uk/assets/media/downloads/2179/gmb05-daytwo.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> After a period of uncertainty, the building was purchased by the British Muslim Heritage Centre to serve as a focus for Muslim heritage and identity in Britain and to promote a balanced and moderate understanding of Islam.<ref>{{EW charity|1110104|British Muslim Heritage Centre}} {{mdash}} Registration history: 20 June 2005</ref>

In January 2013 and 2014, the building was nominated for the Arts and Culture Awareness award at the British Muslim Awards.<ref name="asianimage1">{{cite news|url=http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/10197507.Winners_honoured_at_British_Muslim_Awards/|title=Winners honoured at British Muslim Awards|publisher=Asian Image|date=31 January 2013|access-date=1 November 2015|archive-date=21 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121173521/http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/10197507.Winners_honoured_at_British_Muslim_Awards/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="asianimage2">{{cite news|url=http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/united_kingdom/10978079.British_Muslim_Awards_2014_winners/|title=British Muslim Awards 2014 winners|publisher=Asian Image|date=31 January 2014|access-date=1 December 2015|archive-date=22 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122185051/http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/united_kingdom/10978079.British_Muslim_Awards_2014_winners/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Nasar Mahmood currently serves as a trustee of the centre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/ContactAndTrustees.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1110104&SubsidiaryNumber=0|title=Contact and trustees|website=apps.charitycommission.gov.uk|language=en|access-date=28 January 2019}}</ref> He was awarded an OBE in the Queen's New Year Honours List in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bmhc.org.uk/obe-chairman/|title=Congratulations to our Chair, Mr Nasar Mahmood on being awarded an OBE.|last=Ali|first=Ashraf|website=BMHC|language=en-GB|access-date=28 January 2019|archive-date=25 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225030003/http://www.bmhc.org.uk/obe-chairman/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/new-years-honours-list-2019-15606524|title=New Year's Honours list: The people from Greater Manchester recognised this year|last=Abbit|first=Beth|date=28 December 2018|website=Manchester Evening News|access-date=28 January 2019}}</ref>

==Notes== {{Reflist|35em}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite book |last=Axon |first=William E. A. |author-link=William Axon |year=1877 |title=Handbook of the Public Libraries of Manchester and Salford |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofpublic00axon |location=Manchester |publisher=Abel Heywood and Son |access-date=24 September 2016 }} *{{cite book |last1=Hartwell|first1=Clare |last2=Hyde|first2=Matthew |last3=Pevsner|first3=Nikolaus |author-link3=Nikolaus Pevsner |series=The Buildings of England |title=Lancashire: Manchester and the South East |year=2004 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut |isbn=978-0-300-10583-4 }}

==Further reading== *Anon. (1878) ''Memorial of the Opening of the New and Enlarged Buildings of Lancashire Independent College''. Manchester: Tubbs and Brook *Anon. (1943) ''Lancashire Independent College, 1843–1943''. [Manchester: the College, 1943] *Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute (1935) ''Souvenir programme of the garden party held on the occasion of the visit of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York on Wednesday, 10 July 1935 at the Lancashire Independent College, Whalley Range, Manchester''. Manchester: Service Guild *Field, Clive D. (1989) 'Sources for the Study of Protestant Nonconformity in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester', ''Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester'', vol. 71, no. 2 (1989), pp. 108–11 (information about the college library). *Hadfield, George (1841) ''An Address Intended to Have Been Delivered on the Occasion of Laying the Foundation Stone of the Lancashire Independent College at Withington, near Manchester''. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co. *Thompson, Joseph (1893) ''Lancashire Independent College, 1843–1893. Jubilee Memorial Volume''. Manchester: J. E. Cornish

==External links== * {{Official website}}

Category:Former theological colleges in England Category:GMB (trade union) Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Manchester Category:Grade II* listed religious buildings and structures Category:Museums in Greater Manchester Category:Proposed museums in the United Kingdom Category:Religious museums in England Category:Professional education in Manchester Category:Christianity in Manchester Category:Islam in Manchester