According to local historian Diana Leitch, the site has been in use since 1465;[1] the first house was built in 1603 as part of a large estate with a deer park.

[1] The site was purchased by the Wesleyan Methodist Church on 18 March 1841 for £2,000,[6] and opened as a theological college on 22 September 1842 with a special service.

[7] The construction and later renovations were paid for from a centenary fund, an initiative started ten years previously by the Methodist scholar Adam Clarke.

[6] In 1866[9] the main house was extended by the addition of two wings and a back to form a quadrangle,[1] and the front was reclad in Kerridge stone.

It was estimated that with the raising of the school leaving age, following the Education Act 1944, about 70,000 new teachers would be needed annually, almost ten times as many as before the war.

These colleges were to be staffed by lecturers seconded from local authorities, with mature students selected from National Service conscripts.

[17] The college faced some difficulties initially, as the building which had accommodated 70 students previously now needed space for 224,[18] including 140 living on site.

[9] In the first four years, renovations by the Ministry of Works included the removal of 60 chimney stacks, a new roof, new wiring and central heating.

The University of Manchester had expressed an interest in using the site as student accommodation, and the Methodists also wished to set up a training college.

[26] In 1956 Lord and Lady Simon of Wythenshawe granted the college 5.5 acres (22,000 m2) of land on the opposite side of Wilmslow Road, allowing sports days to be held.

[27] Over the next two decades, numerous buildings were constructed on the site; Behrens, Birley and Simon were all named after prominent local families with ties to the college.

[43] In the late 1960s, under the second principal Ronald Goldman, plans were made to change the college into the University of South Manchester, though these never came to fruition.

[48] As part of a university, Didsbury was granted an annual research fund of £375,000,[49] and by 1995 the first doctorates in education were being planned,[50] with PhDs introduced later.

Plans involved the creation of £19 million multi-storey teaching blocks and upgraded buildings,[57] and improved access to facilities such as the library and sports centre.

[58] By 2008, plans had changed and it was decided to close the Didsbury campus and move the 2,740 students to a new facility in Hulme,[59] later named Birley Fields.

[61] Reactions to the announced closure were mixed; local traders and businesses were worried about the impact of the loss of students, but many residents supported the move, especially those who had opposed expansion.

[62] As of 2018 the site is being redeveloped by local architects PJ Livesey, as a residential area of 93 homes, with the listed buildings being retained.

[82] From the beginning, Didsbury encouraged connections to educational institutions in other countries, with at least 1000 people reported to have visited during the first nine months, from Greece, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and America.

[84] In the 1970s visits to Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United States became a major part of Didsbury's courses, and these relationships were strengthened when the UK joined the European Economic Community.

[85] The Erasmus Programme, a European Union initiative set up in 1987, established partner institutions across Europe, allowing staff and students to spend significant amounts of time abroad, most while studying the BEd degree from 1991 onwards.

[86] The purpose of Erasmus was to allow students to gain experience in a foreign setting, and return to the UK with knowledge and skills that would impact the children they would teach.

[90] In 1930 glazed skylights were added to the slate roofs,[1] and the Old Social Room, later the student resource centre, was built in the courtyard during the Second World War.

Pevsner suggests that these architectural details were taken from illustrations by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett of the Ancient Greek Tower of the Winds in Athens, and notes that identical decorations can be seen on another house by Lane at 84 Plymouth Grove in Manchester, later occupied by Elizabeth Gaskell.

The main entrance hall contains an elliptical spiral staircase with an iron balustrade,[90] which leads up to the former reception rooms and bedrooms.

The Behrens Building was three floors high and mainly consisted of classrooms,[105][106][107] although it originally contained a student common room and study area.

[113][114] Until 2000[115] it also housed a swimming pool, but this was closed as a result of the opening of Manchester Aquatics Centre, despite protests by local residents.