Wallpaper and textiles
One of the world's largest and most important wallpaper collections, and textiles from Coptic Egypt to contemporary fashion, shown in rotating exhibitions.
Charlesdrakew — Public domain · Anthony O'Neil — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Anthony O'Neil — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Paul Green pgreen1983 — CC0
The most celebrated thing in this gallery is not a painting but wallpaper: one of the largest and most important wallpaper collections in the world, over ten thousand pieces, alongside textiles that run from Coptic Egypt to contemporary fashion and a hoard of Turner and Blake watercolours few museums outside London can match. The holdings pass sixty thousand works, yet you will only ever see a sliver, because the Whitworth has no permanent hang. Exhibitions rotate through the year, so two visits a couple of years apart may share nothing at all. The building is half the story. The original red-brick hall was completed in 1908, roughly two decades after the gallery was founded in 1889 from the bequest of the engineer and industrialist Sir Joseph Whitworth. Then came the roughly £15 million extension that reopened in February 2015: it doubled the public space and threw the back of the building open to the park with glass wings, so the café seems to hang among the trees. It took the Art Fund Museum of the Year that same year, and a stroll round the small art garden and sculpture terrace explains why. Entry is free with no booking. Hours are Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-17:00, with a late opening until 21:00 on Thursdays; it is closed every Monday, bank holidays included. A free 45-minute guided tour leaves at 14:00 on most open days, no sign-up needed, capped at twenty people. It is an easy place with children: lifts to the upper and lower levels, step-free routes throughout, pushchairs roll in without fuss, and Whitworth Park next door is where the young burn off an hour of gallery quiet. Ninety minutes is plenty; only textile enthusiasts or people chasing a particular show need longer. The gallery sits on Oxford Road south of the centre, about a half-hour walk on flat pavement or a short hop on any of the many Oxford Road buses, and ten minutes on foot from Manchester Museum, so pair the two in one day. A few minutes' walk further south along the same road, Rusholme's Curry Mile begins, with its rows of halal Arab and Pakistani restaurants, the obvious answer for lunch or dinner afterwards. In winter it is dark before closing time, so pick a Thursday if you want an unhurried evening visit.
One of the world's largest and most important wallpaper collections, and textiles from Coptic Egypt to contemporary fashion, shown in rotating exhibitions.
One of the finest British watercolour collections outside London, though never all on the walls at once.
Glass wings open the building onto Whitworth Park, with an art garden, sculpture terrace and a café set among the trees.
Oxford Road, Whitworth Park, M15 6ER
With young children and limited time, Manchester Museum wins on dinosaurs and mummies. But the Whitworth is free, ten minutes' walk away, fully step-free with lifts, and its park is the best playground afterwards, so doing both in one day is the sensible plan; give it just an hour if art is not your thing.
No. Entry is free and ticketless even in July and August, and queues are rare. Just remember it shuts every Monday, bank holidays included, and stays open until 21:00 on Thursdays.
