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Gossages Tower
An aerial view of Gossages Tower, 1920,s
A view inside Mr William Gossage & Son's Soap Works, Directors Room, 1915, now the Catalyst Museum.
A view inside Mr William Gossage & Son's Soap Works, General Office 1915, now the Catalyst Museum.
Gossage’s Tower Building, Mersey Road.
Built in c1860 for fohn Hutchinson & Co, this structure features prominently in the local landscape. Rendered with a slate roof, it stands four storeys high with a projecting tower wing of the same height but comprising only two storeys. The favouritism shown towards the classical style of architecture during the nineteenth century is reflected in the incorporation of a projecting plinth, rusticated quoins, and projecting bands at sill level, curved beads with keystones and architraves to ground floor windows, flat moulded heads else where. There is a moulded string course midway up to the ground floor windows and a moulded eaves cornice. Window openings to the main building are of a sash type, with triple openings at ground floor. Double two-panel bolection moulded entrance door, with plain fanlight flanked by flat pilasters. The tower section of the building, and the interior, are not of interest architecturally, but this should not be allowed to detract from the historical value of the building. The premises were acquired by Gossage’s in 1908. They are currently occupied by an engineering company and known as Yew Tree Works. picture taken 1983.
The observatory at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre was built as part of a rooftop extension in 1989. The extension which included a glass lift and the enclosed, glazed observatory deck, was added to the historic tower building after it was acquired to house the museum, which opened in 1987.
CATALYST
A kaleidoscope of chemistry, the first ever museum entirely devoted to the chemical industry, opened its doors to the public last week.
The museum, housed in the former Gossages Soap Works building in Widnes, was officially opened by the Viscount Leverhulme, in the presence of representatives from industry, education and the local authorities, 1989.
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