Building record 7771 - Myrtle Street Drill Hall

<1> Historic England, 2015, Drill Halls; Introductions to Heritage Assets, p.11-12 (Report). SCH8014.

Crewe (Cheshire), 1937, built with a number of moderne features, notably steel-framed windows connected by continuous grooved heads and sills which curve at the ends. The hall itself, entered from two doorways with extraordinary brick surrounds, retains its original wooden parquet flooring and an exposed metal steel roof frame with wide-span angle-iron trusses of the ‘Belgian’ form.

Examples of drill halls in the moderne style are unusual, but a number may be found across the country. Many halls display only restrained and subtle hints of moderne styling, but Crewe’s Myrtle Street drill hall, Cheshire built in 1937 with windows connected by continuous grooved heads and sills, curved at the ends in the streamline moderne manner, is more clearly and directly influenced by the style.

<2> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R & Jones D 07/04/2016 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

Adjacent is a garage or workshop building. Although this displays none of the architectural styling of the drill hall, brick work and rainwater goods suggest a contemporary date.