Wedgwood Institute Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England now owned by The Prince’s Regeneration Trust
The Wedgwood Institute is a large red-brick building that stands in Queen Street, in the town of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is sometimes called the Wedgwood Memorial Institute, but it is not to be confused with the Wedgwood Memorial College in Barlaston. The Wedgwood Institute is named after the potter Josiah Wedgwood and stands on the site of the Brick House pottery works which he rented from 1762 to 1770. the building itself opened 21 April 1869; the School of Art and Science opened in October 1869; the Free Library opened in 1870; and the façade was completed by November 1871. The basic design is by an architect called Nichols, but the elaborate decorations which form an integral part of the facade were designed by Robert Edgar and John Lockwood Kipling, the father of Rudyard Kipling. The style of architecture chosen was Venetian Gothic, which had been popularised by John Ruskin. It is an ornate building coated with numerous inlaid sculptures, ceramics and a series of zodiac mosaics, the latter executed by Signor the entrance is a tympanum with portrait medallions of three people connected with Wedgwood's projects: these are John Flaxman, the sculptor, Joseph Priestley, the scientist, and Thomas Bentley (1730–1780), a business partner of Wedgwood. Above the tympanum is a statue of Josiah Wedgwood. The statue is in the middle of a frieze. Around the upper storey is set a series of twelve terracotta panels to illustrate the months of the year, and above them mosaics of the corresponding signs of the zodiac. Around the middle of the building are ten terracotta panels depicting processes involved in the manufacture of pottery. The cresting at the top of the facade recalls the Doge's Palace. It achieved Listed building status (grade II starred) in 1972
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Photo credit: © John Keates / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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