The Changes In The Use Of Buildings In Manchester - Essay Example

The Changes In The Use Of Buildings In Manchester Manchester is one of the most well-known cities of the world. It is a city in the province of Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. The city has a population of almost five lac people as per the 2010 half yearly population report by the Office of National Statistic. The city houses many exotic buildings which attract the interest of thousands of tourists from all walks of life all and from all around the world. Most of the buildings in the city have their origins in the Roman times and the architecture goes on to prove this for itself. The city has experienced rapid growth over the years and most of the development in terms of buildings is believed to have been carried out in the Victorian era, during the nineteenth century. The city features a lot of famous buildings and landmarks including its palatial mills, warehouses, libraries, churches and other historical landmarks. The city of Manchester is also accredited to be the city from where the Industrial Revolution initiated. The city’s buildings have displayed an immense show of power, politics and wealth. The banking halls featured in the famous King Street simply go on to show reflect what’s just mentioned above by its large and well-furnished banking halls which were built during the Victorian era. Everything changes with time and so has the building landscape of Manchester. The twentieth century saw the grown of what’s referred to as the “modern day Mexico”. Recognizing the importance of studies, the Central Reference Library was built on Saint Peter’s Street, aiming to provide students and old aged people a good place to study and increase their knowledge about things. Focusing on civic amenities of the metropolitan, the Town Hall Extensions were also developed with an aim to provide people places where they can head out to. Throughout the years the Manchester City Council has played a very active and important role in maintaining the old buildings of the city alongside constructing new ones. The citizens of Manchester take very much pride to be associated with in a city whose council has not just maintained old buildings and preserved the heritage of the city, but utilized them in such a manner that their existence is utilized to their full capacity. The once famous Corn Exchange has now become a Triangle, the famous Joshua Hoyle’s warehouse situated in Piccadilly has been converted into the classy Malmaison Hotel and the Watts Warehouse has been converted into a glamorous hotel. The credit for all this without cent percent doubt goes to the hard working people working at the Manchester City Council. During the Industrial Revolution the city of Manchester experienced a growth in population of almost six times. With Industrial Revolution on the scorecards, many people started moving into cities in search of work and Manchester was no exception. Most of the cities in the United Kingdom were not prepared to cater to such a massive influx of people from elsewhere and the city started facing a great and ever so high demand for buildings. Low cost homes were required by people as they moved in to the newly industrialized city. At that time there weren’t a lot of building laws and as a result of the sky rocketing demand for buildings, even they were placed aside while construction continued. With so much demand for housing in such less time, builders started making building quickly and often compromised in quality standard as profit became their primary motive (Parkinson-Bailey 2000). The city of Manchester became a hub of back to back terrace housing during the times of Industrial Revolution. These buildings were made in such a manner that there was no porch or garden area and all parts of the building were connected with other buildings besides the front entrance of the building. Most of these buildings often didn’t even have the facilities of water, washroom or toilets. The work of toilets was often done in cesspits as the city continued to face sanitation issues during that time. The Manchester of current times, however, is way different from the historical one. Back to back terrace housing has been replaced by high end state of the art buildings. The city now also features some of the tallest buildings of the world including the Beetham Tower which was completed in 2006, the CIS tower in 1962, the City Tower in 1965, Civil Justice Centre in 2007 and many more (Dugan 2004). In the recent times there has been an increased interest shown by the Manchester City Council to develop skyscrapers in Manchester to add to the skyline of city. Skyscrapers add to the beauty of any city and stand out as famous monuments which are easily remembered by tourists as well as locals. There are some buildings in Manchester City which have their impact in the history of the city. Some of the most famous ones include the city’s warehouses, the Corn Exchange and Print works. In the older times Manchester warehouses have defined the major building structures of the city. These warehouses were designed in such a way that they could cater to the increase in trade and commerce sector. A lot of famous warehouses still exist in the city center in the area connecting Whitworth Street to Mosley Street (Sharp 1966). However, there are four different categories of warehouses that are found in the city, namely warehouses that served as trade homes and often displayed goods for sale, foreign good warehouses which were meeting places for dealers and agents of cotton and other products, packing warehouses whose purpose was mainly labeling and packaging of goods for export purposes and railway warehouses where railway goods were kept until delivery was before loading and after unloading until the good were claimed. Corn Exchange is another famous building in Manchester. It served as a place where farmers and wholesalers dealt in the sale and purchase of different types of grains. The building was originally built in 1837. The Corn Exchange houses small stallholders dealing in clothes, jewelry and other types of commodities. However, the Corn Exchange was renovated and became functional in 1996 again and this time reopened under the name of Triangle Shopping Centre, owing to the building’s shape. The mall features a lot of branded shops and is also home to a radio studio (Reaves 2004). There aren’t many people who have visited Manchester and yet don’t know about Printworks. It’s a famous entertainment complex located in Manchester. Prior to its developmental phase in 2000, it operated as a printing press. The older days printing press now features fifteen restaurants, four world class clubs, a gymnasium and a cinema. The building was developed as the Withy Grove Printing House in 1873 and served as a printer so some daily newspapers. It’s very interesting to see how Manchester has grown over the year in terms of development. Everything develops over time and so has Manchester. In the previous era there weren’t any proper places for people, including children, to hang out in the city. Having a walk in the city park, going to the zoo or dining out at small restaurants was considered as “leisure” in the older days. There wasn’t really much people could do back then. However, as far as the entertainment or “leisure” part is concerned, the city has developed a lot of places. A lot of famous pubs and clubs have been developed in the city where people can enjoy throughout the night. The Cuba Café, Sub Space, Sakura, The Circle Club and Bijou Club are just a few prominent ones. Other than that the City has a developed a lot of amusement parks over the period of time. Children and teenagers often prefer visiting them whenever they get a chance. The city houses a lot of famous amusement parks but Aerial Extreme, Affleck’s Palace and Legoland Discovery Centre are the most famous ones. Restaurants and coffee shops have also emerged as famous places to hang out and relax in the city. Comparatively in the older times the people of Manchester weren’t really passionate about dining out and restaurants usually remained empty and gave a ghost figure. However, the tradition of dining out has witnessed an increase over the years as people now dine out more often, usually as a means of relaxing. Some of the most famous restaurants in Manchester include Michael Canes at Abode, The French, Australasia, Room and Second Floor Restaurant (Moving Manchester, 2001). To sum it all up, the city of Manchester features a blend of old and new buildings. It is a city which has buildings from sky rocketing skyscrapers to the Victorian era back to back houses. The city has developed over the years and with the way the City Council has been working over the architecture and construction of buildings, it won’t be long until Manchester becomes famous for its buildings all over the world and makes it to the list of the “World’s most exotic buildings”. References Top of Form Dugan, D. (2004). Liverpool, Manchester and the hubs of world trade. Sharp, D. (1966). Manchester buildings. London, Manchester, Architecture north west. Bottom of Form Top of Form Parkinson-Bailer, J. J. (2000). Manchester: an architectural history. Manchester, Manchester University Press. Bottom of Form Top of Form Reaves, J. R., Murray, M. T., Seapker, J. K., & Hayes, S. (2004). Saving the Cotton Exchange: an oral history of Joseph R. Reaves and Malcolm T. Murray who restored the historic Cotton Exchange, giving it life and permanence. Manchester Center, Vt, Shire Press. Bottom of Form Top of Form (2001). Moving Manchester. Manchester, BBDM Ltd. Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Read More