Historic England’s latest book is an architectural history of England’s Co-operative Movement, written by Lynn Pearson to coincide with the Co-op’s 175th anniversary. The movement traces its origins to the founding in 1844 of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers by 28 weavers and tradesmen, who pooled their savings to open a store to sell basic commodities at fair prices as an alternative to the overpriced, poor-quality, and often adulterated goods sold elsewhere. That first shop is now the Rochdale Pioneers Museum, run by the Co-operative Heritage Trust.
Like some other national retailers (Woolworths, Burton, J Lyons, and W H Smith), the Co-op set out to stand out in the High Street with distinctive architectural designs, from corner shops bearing the movement’s beehive symbol to huge department stores – including Wakefield’s ornate red-brick Unity House (1867, extended 1901-1904). This building had a first-floor community hall, where up to 1,200 people could attend educational lectures, sat beneath the fine hammerbeam roof, and latterly enjoyed films, wrestling, ballroom dancing, and live music. The Co-operative Hall in Ramsbottom (1876) is another example of the Co-op’s commitment to workers’ education, with its library, newsroom, and lecture hall above the ground-floor grocery and drapery. Newly listed in February 2021, this building is, sadly, on the Heritage at Risk Register.
More recently the Co-op has made its mark on the Manchester skyline with its headquarters complex, regenerating a 22-acre site in what is officially branded NOMA (NOrth MAnchester), but is known locally as the Co-op Quarter because of the eight buildings that make up the Co-op headquarters complex. They include two listed tower blocks: the 14-storey New Century House and its companion, the 400ft, 28-storey CIS Tower, head office of the Co-operative Insurance Society. Both were built between 1959 and 1962 as pioneering examples of curtain-wall buildings. Inspired by Chicago skyscrapers, they have been described as ‘perfectly symbolising the optimism of the 1960s’.
