The foundation stone was laid by future Prime Minister - William
Gladstone on 26 October 1863. The frontage of the Institute contains twelve huge terracotta tiles depicting the months of the year. Also displayed are
the carvings of the people of the Potteries performing their different skills, together with a statue of Josiah Wedgwood.
The Institute was built with funds raised by public subscription to make
arts, science and literature available to all, not just the rich who had previously had the only access. It was also designed to be the main centre
for arts activity in the Six Towns of the Potteries.
The Institute was highly successful and extended into two new wings before
the demand for art education necessitated the building of a new purpose built School of Art on the opposite side of Queen Street.
During the late nineteenth century the Institute played its part in producing ceramic
artist, William Moorcroft; author, Arnold Bennett; and pioneer of radio, Oliver Lodge. The Institute also features regularly in the works of Arnold
Bennett.
The Institute continued as a successful seat of learning in its own right
through most of the 20th Century before becoming an annex for Staffordshire University and most recently Stoke-on-Trent College. In 1993
the building was inspected in the light of new fire escape regulations and its use was consequently restricted to the ground floor. The College ceased
using of the Institute later that year leaving only the Library in
residence.
Statue
of Josiah Wedgwood over the entrance to the Wedgwood Institute.
The side of the Wedgwood Institute is in 'Clayhanger Street' (after Arnold
Bennett's novel of the same name).
In
Bennett's novels the small passageway was called 'Buggs Gutter.
On the
1898 map this passage is named 'Baker Street'
Wedgwood Institute featured in Arnold Bennett's novels as 'The School of
Art'
|
More
on Queen's Ware.
The striking edifice of the Wedgwood Institute was erected by R. Edgar and John Lockwood Kipling (father of Rudyard
Kipling) and took six years to
complete.
