Architecture of Manchester

The architecture of Manchester demonstrates a rich variety of architectural styles. The city is a product of the Industrial Revolution and is known as the first modern, industrial city.^[1] Manchester is noted for its warehouses, railway viaducts, cotton mills and canals – remnants of its past when the city produced and traded goods. Manchester has minimal Georgian or medieval architecture to speak of and consequently has a vast array of 19th and early 20th-century architecture styles; examples include Palazzo, Neo-Gothic, Venetian Gothic, Edwardian baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and the Neo-Classical.

Manchester burgeoned as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the Bridgewater Canal and Manchester Liverpool Road station became the first true canal and railway station used to transport goods. The Industrial Revolution made Manchester a wealthy place but much of the wealth was spent on lavish projects that were often at the expense of its population. Engineering developments such as the Manchester Ship Canal symbolised a wealthy and proud Manchester, so too did Mancunian buildings of the Victorian era, the finest examples of which include the neo-gothic town hall and the John Rylands Library. At the height of the Industrial Revolution, the city had nearly 2,000 warehouses. Many of them have now been converted for other uses but their external appearance remains mostly unchanged so the city keeps much of its industrial, brooding character.

The 1996 IRA bombing sparked a large regeneration project with new buildings such as Urbis forming a centrepiece of the redevelopment. Over the last few years there has been a renewed interest in building skyscrapers in Manchester with Manchester City Council signalling it would be sympathetic towards 'iconic' skyscrapers that 'reflect the historic non-comformist attitude and uniqueness of the city'. The Beetham Tower was completed in the autumn 2006 and until 2018 was the tallest building in the UK outside London (at which point it was surpassed by the South Tower at Deansgate Square, also in Manchester). City centre regeneration coincided with the property boom of the 2000s with one urbanist remarking on "the sheer number of cranes and the noise of the building work, with the sound of pneumatic drills in my ears wherever I went".^[2]

Manchester was granted city status in 1853 due to its rapid development and was the first to be granted such status since Bristol in 1542. Manchester was on a provisional list for UNESCO World Heritage site status emphasising the city's role in the Industrial Revolution and its extensive canal network.^[3] Castlefield, west of the city centre is Britain's only Urban Heritage Park that aims to preserve the character and history of the area.