Wedgwood Institute

The Wedgwood Institute is a large red-brick building that stands in Queen Street, in the town of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England.

The foundation stone of the new institute was laid by then Chancellor of the Exchequer William Ewart Gladstone on 26 October 1863; the building itself opened 21 April 1869.

The local public lending library in the institute moved across the road to the Burslem School of Art in 2008[4] and then was closed by the council about 18 months later.

Working together, the team produced a design which will conserve the original 1860s building and revive the institute's raison d’être of supporting enterprise and delivering education.

Subject to further funding being secured, work on the main phase of the project is expected to start in spring 2017, with the fully redeveloped Institute due to open in 2018–19.

[8] The building has played its part in the lives of many famous local people such as the scientist Oliver Lodge, the writer Arnold Bennett and potters such as Frederick Hurten Rhead and William Moorcroft.