Architecture & Planning: why does Manchester look like it does?
10.30am Saturday 22 March 2025
A look at the architecture and planning of the city, how it evolved and what forces, industrial, commercial and social, created its ‘look’ and ‘feel’. Also, what does the future hold?
The buildings, the pattern of the streets, the occasional gardens, the railways and the canals all tell their own peculiarly Manchester story. This is an exciting tale of design, lack of design, accident, the pure profit motive and philanthropy. There are human stories of success and failure too.
Places we may visit include:
The spectacular Royal Exchange (with its superb theatre space from 1976, Manchester's mini-Pompidou Centre);
Manchester Cathedral and its incredible Medieval woodwork;
The Glade of Light memorial to those killed in the 2017 Ariana Grande concert atrocity;
Chetham's Library and School, six hundred years old and the city's oldest complete building;
CIS/CWS complex and the International Modern;
Mackie Mayor, a revamped and revitalised Market Hall from 1857;
The Daily Express building from the thirties by Owen Williams and a gem of the streamline moderne style;
Halle St Peter's, a hugely popular and successful restoration of a former church with a fabulous 2019 extension by Stephenson Hamilton Risley Studio;
Ancoats Mills, leviathan's of the industrial covering all periods of massive spinning mill development.
Tour lasts up to two hours.
Meet: outside Manchester Royal Exchange stairs, Exchange Street (that's the street that links to St Ann's Square from Market Street).
BOOKING AHEAD IS ADVISABLE.
The booking confirmation from Paypal acts as your ticket, so please print and bring along or have it ready on your smart phone or other device.
Jonathan Schofield may not be guiding all the tours. In this case other fully qualified guides will be leading the events.
PLEASE CHECK THIS WEBSITE 24 HOURS BEFORE THE TOUR IN CASE A SITUATION ARISES WHICH MAY AFFECT THE TOUR. IF YOU WISH TO SEND YOUR PHONE NUMBER I CAN TEXT IF THERE IS AN ISSUE AS WELL.
The buildings, the pattern of the streets, the occasional gardens, the railways and the canals all tell their own peculiarly Manchester story. This is an exciting tale of design, lack of design, accident, the pure profit motive and philanthropy. There are human stories of success and failure too.
Places we may visit include:
The spectacular Royal Exchange (with its superb theatre space from 1976, Manchester's mini-Pompidou Centre);
Manchester Cathedral and its incredible Medieval woodwork;
The Glade of Light memorial to those killed in the 2017 Ariana Grande concert atrocity;
Chetham's Library and School, six hundred years old and the city's oldest complete building;
CIS/CWS complex and the International Modern;
Mackie Mayor, a revamped and revitalised Market Hall from 1857;
The Daily Express building from the thirties by Owen Williams and a gem of the streamline moderne style;
Halle St Peter's, a hugely popular and successful restoration of a former church with a fabulous 2019 extension by Stephenson Hamilton Risley Studio;
Ancoats Mills, leviathan's of the industrial covering all periods of massive spinning mill development.
Tour lasts up to two hours.
Meet: outside Manchester Royal Exchange stairs, Exchange Street (that's the street that links to St Ann's Square from Market Street).
BOOKING AHEAD IS ADVISABLE.
The booking confirmation from Paypal acts as your ticket, so please print and bring along or have it ready on your smart phone or other device.
Jonathan Schofield may not be guiding all the tours. In this case other fully qualified guides will be leading the events.
PLEASE CHECK THIS WEBSITE 24 HOURS BEFORE THE TOUR IN CASE A SITUATION ARISES WHICH MAY AFFECT THE TOUR. IF YOU WISH TO SEND YOUR PHONE NUMBER I CAN TEXT IF THERE IS AN ISSUE AS WELL.