Report - McKechnie Admin Block (Widnes, Jan, 2021)

[urbanchemist]

A little building I had been keeping an occasional eye on over the years.
Part of it was used as offices by the galvanising firm next door but the derelict looking boarded section on the left was never accessible.

Then driving by one day I noticed fencing had gone up and went for a quick look.

It was built in 1920 as the admin block for McKechnie who had smelting and copper sulphate works over the road.
The original six bay block was extended sometime in the 1980s with another three bays added on the right in the same style.
The building in its shorter form can be seen in the blowup of the aerial photo below.

Pictures are ordered from the ground floor up - no tripod for this one.

Passing again last weekend I noticed the place has now been flattened, so these pictures may be the only record of the inside.

Widnes is the birthplace of the UK chemical industry, and this was one of the few buildings left from the height of that era.
Apparently there’s a bottle of McKechnie copper sulphate in the Catalyst Museum down the road.
This museum is well worth visiting by the way even if it does come across as a belated apology for turning Widnes and much of the surrounding area into a toxic waste dump.

 

[Speed]

Another one to take off the 'wonder what's in there' list..

Is it the same Mckechnie that had the brass mill down in Aldridge?

 

[Calamity Jane]

Lovely frontage, and tbf backage too. Nicely covered.

 

[urbanchemist]

Another one to take off the 'wonder what's in there' list..

Is it the same Mckechnie that had the brass mill down in Aldridge?

Same one, yes.

 

[tigger]

Something very appealing about the last photo.
Though fairly plain the simple detailing of brickwork and company name add so much character that is missing from most modern equivalents. The entrance must have looked great with it's original glazing
Nice record

 

[westernsultan]

Another one to take off the 'wonder what's in there' list..

Is it the same Mckechnie that had the brass mill down in Aldridge?

Yes - some company history at https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/McKechnie_Brothers

 

[urbanchemist]

Something very appealing about the last photo.
Though fairly plain the simple detailing of brickwork and company name add so much character that is missing from most modern equivalents. The entrance must have looked great with it's original glazing
Nice record

The frontage is - was - oddly unsymmetrical as I found when trying to straighten my pictures. From maps and photos it looks like the main entrance may have been moved round to face the road at a later date.

 

[dweeb]

Nicely covered. Pity to see a building like that go.

 

[ChemicAL]

This is brilliant, nice one. Up until the early 2000's it was a real time capsule and at that point was still full of the previous occupiers stuff from the 80's (posters and staff notices on the wall, machinery, office equipment, newspapers from the time and even staff personal belongings - it looked like whoever was there previously had left in a hurry). One of the empty rooms upstairs was actually used as a set for the short-lived BBC Police drama 'Mersey Beat' and was temporarily converted to look like a studio flat - the production team worked on it for about 6 weeks and it was on screen for all of 10 seconds. The entire building was owned by the Galvanising plant next door...I'm surprised you could get anywhere near it but I'm glad you did as these are great photos.

 

[urbanchemist]

Part of it was offices for the galvanising people until shortly before it was demolished and they kept a close eye on things - pity because it looked like the sort of place where there might be 'stuff'.