Didsbury College (Methodist)
| Didsbury Campus | |
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The administration building on Didsbury Campus
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| Type | University |
| Location | Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2RR |
| Coordinates | 53°24′43″N 2°13′49″W / 53.4120°N 2.2302°WCoordinates: 53°24′43″N 2°13′49″W / 53.4120°N 2.2302°W |
| Built | 1785, 1842 |
| Built for | Wesleyan Methodist Church |
| Architect | Richard Lane |
| Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical |
| Governing body | Privately owned |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Official name: Administration Building at Didsbury Campus, Manchester Metropolitan University | |
| Designated | 25 February 1952 |
| Reference no. | 458452 |
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Listed Building – Grade II
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| Official name: Old Chapel Building at Didsbury Campus, Manchester Metropolitan University | |
| Designated | 6 June 1994 |
| Reference no. | 458453 |
 Location of Didsbury Campus in Greater Manchester
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The Didsbury Campus on Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, England, originally a private estate, was part of the Manchester Metropolitan University; the oldest building on the site dated to around 1785. It became a theological college for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1842, about the same time as a chapel which later became part of the college was built. These buildings are now all listed.
In 1946, in response to a growing need for new teachers across the country, the site became a temporary teacher training college, becoming permanent in 1950. Over the next thirty years there was a significant building programme, with classrooms, lecture theatres, offices, sports facilities and a library all being constructed. The college became a part of Manchester Polytechnic (later Manchester Metropolitan University) in 1977. In 2005, the campus became home to the Science Learning Centre North West.
The university closed the campus in 2014, sold the land to developers, and moved its facilities to a new purpose-built campus named Birley Fields in Hulme. All the buildings constructed after the Second World War were then demolished, with only the listed buildings remaining. As of 2018 these are being converted into homes, as part of the site’s redevelopment as a residential area.
According to local historian Diana Leitch, the site has been in use since 1465; the first house was built in 1603 as part of a large estate with a deer park. In 1740 the site was purchased by the Broome family, and a new house was constructed after 1785 by William Broome, extant today as the front part of the university's former administration building, now known as Sandhurst House. By 1812 the house was occupied by a Colonel Parker, and in the 1820s and '30s it was a girls' school. The site was purchased by the Wesleyan Methodist Church on 18 March 1841 for £2,000, and opened as a theological college on 22 September 1842 with a special service. The construction and later renovations were paid for from a centenary fund, an initiative started ten years previously by the Methodist scholar Adam Clarke.
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