This is a special occasion for our Society, being our very first meeting in the new HQ of the Nottingham Mechanics. It seems to be the perfect opportunity to take a look at this remarkable Victorian survival from a bygone era.

George Birkbeck led the founding of the Mechanics Institutes at the beginning of the 19th Century aimed at providing working men with the means to improve themselves. Classes, lectures, libraries and discussion groups were the staple diet. They were criticised as being 'hotbeds of sedition and irreligion'. It was genuinely feared by many that the education of working men would encourage them towards civil disobedience.

The Nottingham Mechanics was founded at a public meeting held at the Town Hall, Weekday Cross on 30 October, 1837. Its first home was at 17 St James's Street, near the Castle. With membership subscriptions set at a shilling a quarter, one of the 'attractions' of early membership was free admission to body dissections at the General Hospital school in the same building. Accommodation was at a premium, prompting fund-raising to buy a site and build new premises. An art exhibition held in 1840 attracted a staggering 224,000 visitors in just 5 months.

	This new building opened on the corner of Mansfield Road and Burton Street in 1845. Facilities included a large meeting hall,library for 40,000 volumes, museum and various classrooms. Consumed by fire in March 1867, the hall reopened 2 years later, and was to survive in its latest guise for nearly a century.
The Old Mechanics in 1883, taken from the Milton Street / Burton Street corner

Originally numbering over 600, stretching across the British Empire; the Nottingham Mechanics is one of the very few which continues to flourish, in the face of changing trends and standards in education, literacy and entertainment.

The Mechanics can be proud of its pivotal role in the cultural and scientific life of Victorian Nottingham. Organisations which flourished under its aegis include: the University College (now University of Nottingham), the Natural History Museum (now at Wollaton Hall), the Nottingham Operatic Society and numerous other clubs and societies. The first electric lighting and phonograph were shown here as wonders of the modern age.

Famous people who came to the Mechanics include: from Literature: Charles Dickens (3 times), Oscar Wilde (twice), Anthony Trollope, Jerome K Jerome, Wilkie Collins, GK Chesterton and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Explorers: HM Stanley, Captain Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton and Edward Whymper (1st man to climb the Matterhorn). From the theatre and silver screen: Dame Anna Neagle. Entertainment was provided by Madame Tussaud and her Waxworks, Tom Thumb and the operatic diva Jenny Lind. Whilst from Egyptology came our very own Sir Flinders Petrie and Arthur Weigall (speaking on "Excavating at Luxor" in 1924.

Petrie	Weigall

As tastes changed, the Mechanics also adapted itself. The main hall was converted to a full-time cinema in 1916; moving with the times as one of the first picture-houses in Nottingham to go over to the new-fangled 'talkies' in 1928.

Faced with the costs of maintaining a large building fast approaching its centenary, the Mechanics decided to redevelop on its own site in 1964. The façade of the old building was bought by a wealthy American and re-erected stone by stone as his Californian hunting lodge.

The New Mechanics opened in what was now called Birkbeck House with the redevelopment costing around £750,000. The rest of the building was let to tenants, with the Mechanics occupying the first floor. At the opening in April 1966 the Mechanics was described thus: "It has survived because it has adapted itself to changing circumstances in this modern age and has at the same time preserved all the best traditions of the past". Prophetic words indeed. Facilities provided included: the Members' Lounge, Restaurant, Buttery (Members' Bar), Library & Quiet Room, Billiard Room, Card Room, Chess Room and Activities Room.

The 1964 architectural masterpiece - Birkbeck House, again from the Burton Street/Milton Street junction.

It is Birkbeck House of course which has been so familiar to our members over the last 11 years. Although its 1960's brutalist architecture may certainly have currently fallen out of favour, the facilities provided are remarkable for the centre of a large city.

And on to the present day. Major redevelopment of this part of Nottingham city centre has enabled the Mechanics to once more literally move with the times. The site of Birkbeck House will become the centrepiece of a mixed-use scheme including retail, housing, commercial and leisure interests. Close to the Victoria Centre, Cornerhouse, Royal Centre and new tram services, this is fast becoming the City's new entertainment and leisure quarter.

(left) The New Mechanics' Building on North Sherwood Street - nearing completion.

The Mechanics have taken the brave decision to literally move with the times - to a purpose-built home on North Sherwood Street. The site is literally only a couple of hundred yards' away, near to the Nottingham Trent University campus, opposite the Central Fire Station.


The new building will feature several multi-purpose rooms, on two levels, with full wheelchair access. SSAE members will be relieved to know that the famous Mechanics' bar /café (serving probably the best Egg & Chips in Nottingham) will be an integral part of the new setup.

This redevelopment should assure the Mechanics, a relic of the 19th Century; an existence well into the 21st Century. The members of our Society wish it well in its new venture.

Steve Marshall

Acknowledgement:

Many thanks to the staff of the Local Studies Department of the City of Nottingham Library at Angel Row for their help in locating original source materials for this article.