Architecture for the People: Manchester City Architect’s Department, 1902-2003
Public Exhibition: Architecture for the People
For 101 years, the City Architect’s Department in the Town Hall served the citizens and met diverse civic needs by designing hundreds of different municipal buildings. They ranged from grand airport terminals to the small public lavatories, from the high profile like the new Free Trade Hall to the hidden away but essential facilities like mortuaries.
For the first time, this exhibition presents a selection of the works delivered under the direction of the seven official City Architects spanning across the twentieth century. In the early days of the Department, Manchester Corporation controlled gas and electricity undertakings, most public transport, schools, police, fire and ambulance services, waste collection, parks and recreation, housing, libraries, crematoriums and more. Such responsibilities meant a need for new buildings and the upkeep of existing facilities. The City Architect’s Department designed and delivered these, changing the face of the city and its suburbs, providing thousands of new homes, and scores of schools, libraries, public baths, amongst a host of civic buildings. Using archival photographs, drawings and ephemera, the exhibition traces the Department and its buildings, showing how architectural commissions mirrored the constitution of the Corporation and the changing fortunes of the city.
Curated by Martin Dodge (University of Manchester) and Richard Brook (Lancaster University)
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First Floor Exhibition Hall
Manchester Central Library
St Peter's Square
Manchester
