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Manchester Town Hall


16/ 7/2003

Albert Square
City
0161 234 5000

Free

Mon-Fri 9am - 4.30pm (phone ahead for weekend entry)

THE Town Hall is Manchester's greatest monument.

For many, it is a candidate for the Victorian Building par excellence: the whole age summed up in one: the extravagance, the energy, the self-belief and the achievement.

At the opening banquet MP John Bright described the way the city felt about the new building. "With regard to this edifice, it is truly a municipal palace.

"Whether you look at the proportions outside or the internal decorations... there is nothing like it... in any part of Europe."

The first time visitor coming into Albert Square from Cross Street or Lloyd Street, might well agree. A cliff of ornate Gothic stonework drags the eyes upward to the giant clock tower above - the minute hand is 3m in length and spire 85m above ground level.

On the top of the spire is a golden ball with spikes symbolising a cotton bud about to burst, but also the sun, for wherever the sun shines Manchester had business. The roofline is a wonderland of pinnacles, gables, chimneys and metalwork.

The city is in some ways lucky to have the building. In the competition judged on St Valentine's Day 1868, Alfred Waterhouse's design ranked only fourth in terms of appearance but was superior to the others in its practical use of the awkward trangular site, and the best in its handling of light, access and ventilation.

The style chosen was Gothic from the C13 - a style called Early English and seen as patriotic. Gothic was also intended to form a link with the medieval trader cities of the Hanseatic League and of the Low Countries, from where legend said that Manchester's textile roots had sprung.

Manchester was being fashionable too, adopting the in-vogue Gothic style in conscious contrast with the Classical style favoured by Liverpool. Certainly it was Waterhouse's favourite medium.

The celebrations for the opening in September 1877 extended over several days, and included a procession of cavalry and infantry, police force and fire brigades, a banquet, a ball and a gathering of over 40,000 local working men with examples of their crafts.

The outpouring of feeling was reinforced, because by 1977, the city was desperate for a new Town Hall. Manchester had become a city state.

It controlled the local administration, the gas, the water, the police, the education, the parks and roads, and it was rich. The full construction cost of over £1m was met by the rate-payers.

Today the Town Hall provides the focus for the most important civic events and its Gormenghast-like corridors and chambers also remain as the political and administrative centre of the city.

Tours take place most Saturdays throughout the year from the Visitor Information Centre in the Town Hall Extension, St Peter's Square at 2pm.

You can tour the Town Hall on your own but you will have to sign in at one of the reception desks, where you will be given a security badge and told which rooms can be visited.

This is a working Town Hall, so council business may deny you entry into some areas. You might also stumble upon a grand wedding as the Town Hall is proving a popular location for matrimony.

If you take yourself around you can purchase a fact sheet from the reception desk or a Pitkin guide-book.

Toilets, baby changing, shop, group and school visits, disabled access, guided tours, events.


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