Piccadilly Gardens is a green space in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
city centreManchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, situated at one end of Market Street (a busy shopping area) and on the edge of the Northern Quarter.
Piccadilly runs eastwards from the end of Market Street to a point where London Road begins: to the south of this are the gardens and paved areas.
History
Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens was from 1755 the site of the
Manchester Royal InfirmaryThe Manchester Royal Infirmary is a hospital in Manchester, England which was founded by Charles White in 1752 as a cottage hospital capable of caring for twelve patients. Manchester Royal Infirmary is part of a larger NHS Trust incorporating several hospitals called Central Manchester University...
though the street it stood on was then called Lever's Row: this continued south-east as Piccadilly. The site was donated by the Lord of the Manor and had previously been called the Daub Holes: these pits had filled with water and they were replaced by a fine ornamental pond. The infirmary occupied the site at Piccadilly from 1755 to 1910 (when it moved to its current site on Oxford Road); the lowered area (as before 2000) of the gardens arose from the hospital's
basement__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
. Next to the Infirmary was the Lunatic Asylum which was in the year 1849 removed to Cheadle, Cheshire. In 1914 the infirmary had been fully removed from the site, and after several years in which the City Council tried to decide how to develop the site, it ended up being left and made into the largest open green space in the city centre. The Manchester Public Free Library Reference Department was housed on the site for a number of years before the move to
Manchester Central LibraryManchester Central Library is a circular library south of the extended Town Hall in Manchester, England. It acts as the headquarters of the Manchester Library & Information Service, which also consists of 22 other community libraries.Designed by E...
.
The square at Piccadilly Gardens has been for many years the central hub of Manchester's public transport system. The square is only five minutes' walk from the mainline Manchester Piccadilly railway station and 10 minutes walk from
Manchester Victoria railway stationManchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is the city's second largest mainline railway station. It is also a Metrolink station, one of eight within the City Zone...
.
As part of the ongoing,
post-IRA bombThe 1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 15 June 1996 in Manchester, England. The bomb, placed in a van on Corporation Street in city centre, targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused widespread damage, estimated by...
regeneration of the city centre, the
city councilManchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
had set up an international competition for the redesign of Piccadilly Gardens. The winners – announced in 1998 from a short-list that had been whittled down to six – were the
landscape architectA landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
s EDAW and its partners, consisting of: the engineers
ArupArup is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the...
; renowned Japanese architect
Tadao Andois a Japanese architect whose approach to architecture was once categorized by Francesco Dal Co as critical regionalism. Ando has led a storied life, working as a truck driver and boxer prior to settling on the profession of architecture, despite never having taken formal training in the field...
; local architects Chapman Robinson; and lighting engineer, Peter Fink. The square was finally revamped in 2001 – 2002, to include new green space and fountains (by EDAW), and a pavilion (by Tadao Ando) which partially functions to shield the gardens from the transport interchange. The resulting space was radically different from the old gardens, and the only links to the past that remained were the original statues. The redesign was part of the massive construction process that covered
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in the build up to the city hosting the 2002
Commonwealth GamesThe Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
. Previously the square was becoming increasingly run down and was considered unsafe. At a contract cost of around £10 million Piccadilly Gardens was renovated and ended up being shortlisted in 2003 for the Better Public Building Award. Part of the area was built on.
Transport
Piccadilly Gardens has a major public transport interchange where buses and trams can be caught. There is a
MetrolinkMetrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...
tram stopPiccadilly Gardens Metrolink station is a Manchester Metrolink station located in Piccadilly Gardens, adjacent to Piccadilly Bus Station. The station can be used for Interchange between the Bury service and Altrincham and Eccles services. The station is in the City Ticketing Zone.The station was...
with trams on both of Manchester's lines stopping there. There is also a bus station south of the "gardens" area and many more bus stops in the nearby streets. Information on Manchester's transport system can be requested at the GMPTE travelshop located next to the tram stop.
Buildings and statues
The square is surrounded by buildings that cover the ages of modern Manchester. From old Victorian warehouses and shops dating from the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
and Manchester's role as the cotton marketing capital to the new office block development which is part of the 21st century regeneration of the square. The building that visitors are likely to notice first is the huge complex of Piccadilly Plaza which stands over Piccadilly. It is a building that will invoke mixed emotions in most people.
Piccadilly Plaza
Piccadilly Plaza was originally built by Covell Matthews and Partners from 1959 to 1965 and has been recently re-modelled by Leslie Jones Architects in 2001 (this mainly involved replacing the old Chinese style-roofed towers of Eagle Star House at the northern end). Piccadilly Plaza contains the renovated & re-named Ramada Manchester Piccadilly (formerly known as the Jarvis Piccadilly Hotel): the refurbishment was completed in 2008. The huge tower block was renamed
City TowerCity Tower, is a 30-storey office block situated at Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, England. It has the highest office space currently available in Manchester standing 107 metres tall. City Tower was completed in 1965, the Plaza complex was constructed by the developers Bernard Sunley and...
. In 2005 the Plaza underwent large-scale remodelling with recladding of the tower and cleaning of concrete facades. The whole complex has benefitted from increased investment from Bruntwood Ltd, which bought Piccadilly Plaza in 2004/05, and now several retail outlets on ground level, and large office space on the levels above (once the home of Piccadilly Radio) are available.
Thistle and Britannia Hotels
The impressive Thistle Hotel stands on the south-eastern side of
Piccadilly Gardens, which is now unfortunately partly obscured by the new office block. The hotel was originally three cotton warehouses (with a fourth standing to the left) which made up the four warehouses designed by
Edward WaltersEdward Walters was an English architect. After superintending Sir John Rennie's military building work in Constantinople between 1832 and 1837, he returned to England to practise as an architect in the provinces...
between 1851 and 1858. Also, there is the Grade II listed Britannia Hotel on Portland Street which was formerly the largest of Manchester warehouses: Watts Warehouse (architects Travis & Mangnall).
Listed buildings around Piccadilly Gardens
- 1. Grade II listed on 3 October 1974.
- 12 Mosley Street. (Barclays Bank) Grade II Listed on 20 June 1988. .Architect Thomas Worthington
Thomas Worthington was a 19th-century English architect, particularly associated with public buildings in and around Manchester.-Early life:...
(1826–1909) born in Salford. Thomas WorthingtonThomas Worthington was a 19th-century English architect, particularly associated with public buildings in and around Manchester.-Early life:...
was the architect for the Albert Memorial (for Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) which stands in front of the Manchester Town HallManchester Town Hall is a Victorian-era, Neo-gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. The building functions as the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments....
in Albert SquareAlbert Square is a public square in the centre of Manchester, England.It is dominated by its largest building, Manchester Town Hall , a Victorian Gothic building by Alfred Waterhouse...
.
- 15 & 17. (including Nos 1-3 Oldham Street). Grade II listed on 20 June 1988. Architect Royle & Bennett
- 38-50. Joshua Hoyle Building & Roby House. Grade II listed on 17 July 1987. Now converted into the Malmaison Hotel
- 47. Grade II listed on 6 June 1994.
- 49. Grade II listed on 6 June 1994.
- 51 & 53. Grade II listed on 6 June 1994.
- 59 & 61, Clayton House. Grade II listed on 6 June 1994.
- 69-75. Hall's Buildings. Grade II listed on 20 June 1988.
- 77-83. Grade II listed on 20 June 1988.
- 97. Brunswick Hotel (includes 2 & 4 Paton Street). Grade II listed on 3 October 1974.
- 107. Grade II listed on 3 October 1974.
- 1. Tib Street, corner of Piccadilly, 1879. Grade II listed. Architect James Lynde.
In addition to the many listed buildings that stand around
Piccadilly Gardens there are also numerous statues:
- Sir Robert Peel statue, Grade II listed on 3 October 1974.
- James Watt
James Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...
statue, Grade II listed on 3 October 1974.
- Edward Onslow Ford
Edward Onslow Ford , English sculptor, was born in London. He received some education as a painter in Antwerp and as a sculptor in Munich under Professor Wagmuller, but was mainly self-taught....
's Queen VictoriaVictoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
Monument. Grade II listed on 3 October 1974.
- Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
statue. Grade II listed on 3 October 1974.
These four stand on what was the esplanade of the Infirmary and were erected at different times before the move to Oxford Road. The first was Peel's statue in 1853 and the last Queen Victoria's which came after her death.