Here's the former YMCA (1911), now St George's House, on Peter Street by Woodhouse, Corbett and Dean. The first UK building to be built of reinforced concrete on the Kahn system, named after a German-born American engineer).
The buff and brown terracotta-faced building mingles tremendous Art Nouveau motifs with an essentially Baroque form. That Art Nouveau though. Wow. Look at that stretched Manchester coat of arms, bees and ship and all? Magnificent.
The buff and brown terracotta-faced building mingles tremendous Art Nouveau motifs with an essentially Baroque form. That Art Nouveau though. Wow. Look at that stretched Manchester coat of arms, bees and ship and all? Magnificent.
There’s a cracking copy of Renaissance artist Donatello's St George too. St George seems to be staring at the queue for coffee-shop Ezra & Gil wondering whether a coffee is worth queuing outside in all weathers. The festoons are hung vertically not dropping from two higher fold points. Crazy stuff.
The massive arched entrance could be the entrance to a fancy road tunnel under a mountain. The YMCA was strong in Manchester with its own sports teams in local leagues. Keeping a body beautiful was part of having a clean spirit in the Young Men’s Christian Association. To this effect the building hosted a gym, a running track, two fives courts on the roof and a top floor with a swimming pool.
If co-working had been a thing when the building was converted twenty years or so back then maybe these would have been retained. It’s a building that whiffs of the changes taking place in architecture in the early 20th century. Catch it in the sun and that terracotta glows.
If co-working had been a thing when the building was converted twenty years or so back then maybe these would have been retained. It’s a building that whiffs of the changes taking place in architecture in the early 20th century. Catch it in the sun and that terracotta glows.
The building replaced a building of 1833 for the Natural History Museum of Manchester. The collection was transferred to Manchester Museum when that opened down Oxford Road, the building closed but in 1876 the YMCA moved in and then demolished it and gave the city this real Manchester gem: a gem presently hosting excellent food and drink Haunt and Exhibition.
You can read more about Manchester buildings in some of my Manchester books at or on Manchester Confidential
You can read more about Manchester buildings in some of my Manchester books at or on Manchester Confidential
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