Nicholson Institute, Leek

The building was designed, in Queen Anne style, by William Larner Sugden, of the firm W. Sugden and Son. The firm designed many buildings in Leek in the second half of the 19th century. It was presented to the town by Joshua Nicholson (died 1885), a silk manufacturer in Leek, as a monument to the politician and businessman Richard Cobden. It was opened in 1884. The building is of brick with stone dressings. The frontage, with mullioned and transomed windows, has a Dutch gable on the left; above the advanced entrance on the right is a tower with a copper domed roof and a roof lantern. The Nicholson Institute initially contained a museum, picture gallery, three rooms for the Leek School of…

After the government's Science and Art Department was established, the mechanics' institute in Leek set up a school of art in 1868. From 1879 this was located in a hired room in Stockwell Street. Joshua Nicholson was persuaded to include more suitable accommodation for the art school in his projected building.

The museum collects and displays items about the history of the Staffordshire Moorlands. There are paintings, textiles, ceramics and items relating to local life. For the art gallery there is an annual programme of temporary exhibitions, with a broad range of themes.