University of Lancashire

The Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge was founded in 1828 by Joseph Livesey's Temperance Society. The society was born from a pledge made by seven Preston working men (whose names can be seen on a plaque in the university's library) to never again consume alcohol.
The institute was housed in a classical-revivalist building on Cannon Street, before eventually expanding under the endowment of a local lawyer Edmund Robert Harris, who died in 1877. The expansion brought with it several new buildings and houses in the nearby Regent Street were purchased and demolished as a consequence. The institute became a regional centre for the arts and sciences.
As part of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1897, the institute's trustees paid the Victorian/Edwardian architect Henry Cheers to design the "Victoria Jubilee Technical School" (later known as the Harris Institute and now known as the Harris Building), to be built on Corporation Street. The foundation stone was laid in July 1895. Its goal was to provide local youths with a technical education in all areas. The building was progressive for the period, being powered entirely by electricity.