Manchester Town Hall Photos, Architect, Northern English Civic Building, Architecture News, Property Design

Manchester Town Hall Building

Victorian Architectural Development in northwest England design by Architect Alfred Waterhouse

15 Mar 2017

Date built: 1868-77

Design: Alfred Waterhouse Architect

Manchester Town Hall Closure

This celebrated English Gothic Revivial building at risk of closure reports Hannah Phillips today in The Northern Quota:

photograph © Adrian Welch

Manchester Town Hall Building Renewal

Manchester councillors gave the go ahead for Manchester’s iconic Town Hall to go under £330million worth of refurbishment, back in 2016, as the building was at risk of closure if urgent action wasn’t taken.

A recent report has suggested that over 40% of the building needs to undergo immediate repairs to avoid the risk of the building deteriorating further.

Located in Albert Square, the prestigious 140 year old building is a historic site which attracts tourists from all over the world and is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council.

photo © webbaviation

Website: Manchester Town Hall Building Renewal – The Northern Quota article in full

Manchester Town Hall

Address: Albert Square, Manchester, Lancashire M60 2LA

Phone: 0161 234 5000

Date: 1877
Architect: Alfred Waterhouse

photograph © Adrian Welch

The building of Manchester Town Hall (1868-77) was undertaken because the neo-classical Town Hall in King Street had become too small to house the expanding business of the Corporation. An architecture competition was held and won by architect Alfred Waterhouse (1830 – 1905), mainly for his ingenious planning.

photograph © Adrian Welch

The city centre site was an irregular triangle, on the east side of Albert Square. It needed to fit a large hall, a suite of reception rooms and living quarters for the Lord Mayor. The building also had to provide offices for all the Corporation departments and a chamber for Council meetings. Waterhouse successfully combined the ceremonial and workaday requirements.

Manchester Town Hall Extension – photo © Adrian Welch, 28 Oct 2011

The Grade One listed building Town Hall was designed in the 13th century Gothic style. In the words of Alfred Waterhouse architect it was a building “essentially of the nineteenth century.” It incorporated such innovations as a warm air heating system. The structure comprises fourteen million bricks encased in Spinkwell stone.

Town Hall Extension building photo © Adrian Welch, May 2011:

Despite its medieval styling, the building was designed to support the practical technologies of the 19th century. It had gas lighting, and a warm-air heating system, which provided fresh air drawn through ornamental stone air inlets placed below the windows and admitted behind the hot water pipes and ‘coils’ of rooms.

Warmed, fresh air was fed into the stairwells and through hollow shafts within the spiral staircases to ventilate the corridors. The pipes that supplied gas for lighting were ingeniously concealed underneath the banister rails of the spiral staircases. Alfred Waterhouse designed the building structure to be fireproof, using a combination of concrete and wrought-iron beams.

Town Hall Extension:

photos © Adrian Welch

26 Nov 2009

Manchester City Council appoint Ian Simpson Architects + Ryder Architects

photos © webbaviation

Photo refs: Town Hall is triangular in plan, the extension is roughly C-shaped and the library is circular

Manchester Town Hall Extension

Refurbishment of Manchester Town Hall Extension + Manchester Central Library

International Design Competition
Contest for St Peter’s Square and Library Walk – the dramatic curved space between Central Library and the Town Hall

Albert Square photographs © Adrian Welch, 28 Oct 2011

27 Nov 2009

RYDER ARCHITECTURE APPOINTED FOR MANCHESTER CITY LIBRARY

Ryder Architecture has been appointed to redesign Manchester City Library by the City Council. The decision was made on the high quality of the bid.

The proposals for the Grade II*-listed library will increase access to the collection and provide a much greater range of library services. The project is part of the redevelopment of the Manchester Town Hall complex, estimated at £165M, improving services to the public and investing in key civic buildings and spaces.

View of the council headquarters from Albert Square:

photos © Adrian Welch

This appointment follows the success of Ryder’s award-winning Newcastle City Library with developer Kajima Partnerships completed in March 2009, and a recent commission from Devon County Council for the interior design of six libraries in a joint venture with Radford-HMY Group.