Category Archives: Manchester

Whither Manchester?

Spotted from a Manchester taxi crawling along Deansgate tonight, Jonathan Meades the substantial architectural critic. A noted critic of the architectural pretensions of totalitarian regimes of both left and right, could he be about to launch one of his withering … Continue reading

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Supercasino: From this filthy sewer pure gold flows revisited

Alexis de Tocqueville’s assessment of the topography of industrialisation seems all the more prophetic as Manchester celebrates another success in its bid to become the centre of ‘trickledown urbanism’. The proposed supercasino presents itself with all the anodyne allure of … Continue reading

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The Edgar Wood Project

Andy Marshall (‘fotofacade’) has started a flickr group called The Edgar Wood Project as a repository of images of buildings by er…. Edgar Wood. Andy is an architectural photographer and blogs at fotofacade.

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Ex-changing Squares

As long ago as the early nineteenth century Joseph Aston observed in “The Manchester Guide” that the town had no civic spaces of any merit and it would appear that fine tradition continues.The Manchester Evening News reports that two recent … Continue reading

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Festschrift for John Archer

Thursday 11 January saw Continuity in Architecture attending a celebration for the eightieth birthday of the architectural historian John Archer. John is a former lecturer at the University of Manchester School of Architecture, and the event was hosted by the … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, CiA, Edgar Wood Vigilantes, Friends & Acquaintances, Manchester, Publications | 2 Comments

? The question we’ve all been asking. Not.

What mysterious fate awaits this curious piece of unoccupied land in central Manchester? Is the area formerly known as Gaythorn, between the former British Council HQ (the square gasometer) and the Hacienda apartments (on the site formerly occupied by Fac … Continue reading

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Separated at birth?

We have been surprised to note the similarity between the recently completed housing by FAT in New Islington, Manchester and the Golden Nugget in the resort of Morecambe. Eschewing the attractions of this hitherto unresearched area of the Lancastrian vernacular, … Continue reading

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Last chance to see…

Manchester: This is the former ‘Welsh Chapel’ (1837-1839) a familiar landmark on Upper Brook Street near the University. Attributed to Charles Barry, it is believed to be an early collaboration between this architect and A.W.N. Pugin. Barry and Pugin later … Continue reading

Posted in Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, Buildings at Risk, Churches, CiA, Dominic Roberts, Manchester | 2 Comments

Monument and Sign 2

One of these artifacts is a product of a devalued aesthetic language, its meanings resting on long vanished glories, but obscure and devoid of significance to the contemporary viewer. The other is a symbol of enduring civic values, of pride … Continue reading

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Last Chance

The Interventions exhibition at CUBE showing student work from the Atelier Barcelona/Manchester (a collaboration with the architecture school at UPC Barcelona) finishes on 16 September. Get down there to see what students get up to when they are abroad. The … Continue reading

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Some Vandalism

Municipal vandalism. Library Walk curves and tapers in response to Vincent Harris’s two great Manchester buildings – Central Library and the Town Hall Extension – joining St Peter’s Square to Mount Street. A correspondent has sent us some pictures of … Continue reading

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Rus in urbe

Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens (Location) were once famous for floral displays, and “New Piccadilly” was treated to a temporary makeover during Easter 2006 with the Ando wall festooned with roses. In summer 2005, Dale Street had been enlivened by a temporary … Continue reading

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