<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel><generator>iloblog 1.0</generator><title>modsocs A-Z of modern manchester Feed</title><link>http://a-z.manchestermodernistsociety.org/</link><description>an alphabet of 20th century greater manchester architecture, from the manchester modernist society. in regular instalments from aldine to zochonis.</description><item><title>L is for Law Courts</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=64</link><description><![CDATA[ Crown Courts of Justice City Architects Dept under LC Howitt, 1957 - 62,   Crown Square  Manchester  M60 1PR   Another of our favourite City Architects suite of municipal buildings that define Modernist Manchester.   The Courts of Justice in Crown Square was envisaged as the culmination of a grand Processional Way linking the pomp and splendour of the Victorian Albert Square complex through Brazennose Street into the heart of the Post War Modernist landscape of the city, arising majestically from the ashes of the bombed out city...  Crown Square with its Education Offices, Magistrates and Coroners Courts was the epitome of post war municipal ambitions - a new kind of public realm, one dedicated to the civic needs and rights of its citizenry 'from cradle to grave'. It is now replaced by Spinningfields, a consumerist landscape of banking, spending and 'luxury' retail.  Take a look at some great images on ManchesterHistory.net for  a glimpse of what lurks beneath  the exclusive chain stores, eateries and apartments inhabiting the old ceremonial way...  Follow our Toastrack Hollings Residency on our  marvellous blog  here!    
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:18:21 +0000</pubDate><category>L</category></item><item><title>K is for Kiosk</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=63</link><description><![CDATA[ K8 Classic Red telephone Box Bruce Martin 1968  Simon Engineering Building,  University of Manchester,  Brunswick St,    M13 9TU      The last design in the classic red kiosk series, epitomised by Giles Gilbert Scott's much loved and familiar K6, was the uber modern K8, unveiled in 1968 and hailed as a masterpiece of industrial design with its distinctive illuminated top, brighter red shade and large glass panels.   The design was chosen by Tony Benn when he was postmaster general at the height of Labour's enthusiasm for white heat technology. 11,000 were rolled out but now there only a dozen or so working boxes left scattered about the country, mainly in isolated areas, plus clusters in Swinton and Hull. The  twentieth century society  have declared them rarer than the dodo, so imagine our surprise and delight when an eagle eyed modernist sighted one earlier this year hiding in plain sight on our own university campus!!! 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:38:21 +0000</pubDate><category>K</category></item><item><title>J is for John Dalton building</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=62</link><description><![CDATA[     Formerly The Faculty of Technology,  City Architect, 1966, for Manchester Polytechnic,  Oxford Rd/ Chester St.  Unlisted.  The John Dalton Building is part of Manchester Metropolitan University and straddles Chester St round the corner. Formerly the Polytechnics Faculty of Technology Building, this long squat monster has been extended many times.     The original building of 1966 by Besant Roberts (City Architect Dept) is a conventional tower with glass stair, the 1974 extension by W Heppell (City Architect Dept) is 5 storeys with continuous windows and slanting glazing angled upwards from concrete frame.    John Dalton can be spotted on the Chester St entrance where he was installed in 1966 for the opening of the new technology dept...  And meanwhile on the west the single storey engineering workshops are described quite rightly in the Manchester Pevner as having a 'jaunty stepped roofline'....  great images of this and other MMU buildings can be enjoyed on flickr  here     M1 5GD               
 ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:43:53 +0000</pubDate><category>J</category></item><item><title>I is for Institute</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=61</link><description><![CDATA[ I is for the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology... We love the former UMIST campus so much that we cant stop going on about it! Designed and built throughout the 1960s to a masterplan by Cruikshank and Seward, this remains one of the finest modern landscapes in the city and is almost unique as a contained inner-city example of the post-war expansion of British Universities.     Our  CAMPUS project  even saw us become uninvited artists in residence at the site, autonomously declaring the entire landscape as Manchester’s first Modernist Conservation Area, and staging a celebration day of activities to highlight its many architectural treasures.  The campus, much of which is under threat as it becomes ever more surplus to requirement by the University, is not only of significance due to its architectural and sculptural qualities but also because of its place within scientific and mathematical modern history.  Recent headline in the local press have once again reared up the spectre of sell offs and redevelopment of this unique modernist beauty....   M1 3BB  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 2012 19:22:02 +0100</pubDate><category>I</category></item><item><title>H is for Hollings. &amp; Howitt!</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=60</link><description><![CDATA[ Our favourite architect LC Howitt was responsible for the infrastructure of the postwar City - from the abattoir to the crematorium. He was also charged with repairing and reconstructing the Free Trade Hall after its extensive bombing in WW2. All this and he still found time to design some of Manchester's finest modern buildings including the Law Courts off Bridge St and the sublime Toastrack, Manchester Metropolitan University's Hollings Campus in Fallowfield. Completed in 1960 its enormous triangular shape was deemed controversial and rather upset the traditionalists! However it captured Mancunian hearts and soon even Pevsner proclaimed it 'a perfect piece of Pop architecture', an accolade confirmed by its subsequent Grade II listing.     Currently the subject of our latest 'Modernists in Residency' projects you can join us as we excavate and celebrate the building, its residents and history on our dedicated  TOASTRACK blog ...!    M14 6HR  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:10:31 +0100</pubDate><category>H</category></item><item><title>G is for Granada</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=59</link><description><![CDATA[  Granada TV Studios  Ralph Tubbs   1962, Unlisted    Granada
House was built by Ralph Tubbs (whose modernist credentials include the
centrepiece for the 1951 Festival of Britain) for Sidney Bernstein, Granada’s
chairman, for his new venture: Granada Television.   No expense was spared on
the commission of this landmark office and studio complex, the UK’s first ever
purpose built television studios, predating BBC’s television centre by four
years, and just about surviving it, as the old Beeb HQ is being demolished as we
write....    Nowadays, with the ITV takeover and rebrand, Granadaland the concept and
company has long gone, but
its magnificent bricks and mortar survive, as does its place in our hearts. But recently even this hangs in the balance, beginning with
the removal of the giant red neon signage in 2011, and rumours circulating about the future of the site once ITV have left and sold up. Despite its unique architectural and
cultural significance the complex remains unlisted and unprotected against the
vagaries of the property market... 
  M60 9EA           
 ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 04 Oct 2012 23:29:07 +0100</pubDate><category>G</category></item><item><title>F is for Fac51 - The Hacienda</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=58</link><description><![CDATA[ Interior - Ben Kelly Whitworth Street West   1982  Demolished       The Hacienda' cultural significance is well documented. However Ben Kelly's designs for the interior of club were equally as important.  His post modern industrial chic was to be copied innumerable times and with regard night club design it saw the beginning of a real shift away from sticky carpets, chrome and mirrors of the 1970s and 80s over to a more robust and hard edged look for night clubs. The influence was to stretch further - the design influencing a new wave of bars, into office and retail interiors and into graphic design.   It is a cliche but the design of The Hacienda was years ahead of its time and had it survived maybe another 10 or 15 years could surely have been worthy of listing.  Such was its importance, the interior of The Hacienda was recreated for the recent British Design exhibition at the V&amp;A Museum.  Architecturally and culturally The Hacienda was much more than just a nightclub. 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:36:18 +0100</pubDate><category>F</category></item><item><title>E is for Elizabeth House</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=57</link><description><![CDATA[ Cruikshank &amp; Seward  St Peters Square,  M2 3DE   1960.     grubby, derelict and long derided for its 'cheap finish', Lizzy House (RIP), famous for serving generations of students generous helpings of Pancakes and fried chicken, was finally demolished this year to make way for yet another 'signature' office tower, part of the much vaunted yet hotly contentious Peter Square revamp.  delicate, assymetrical with interesting stairs &amp; a delicate rooftop, all balanced on slim mosaic tiled columns, this was a shy beauty which always deserved a second more sympathetic glance. and a sympathetic refurb.... 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:42:50 +0100</pubDate><category>E</category></item><item><title>D is for Daily</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=56</link><description><![CDATA[  Daily Express Building  Owen Williams, 1939  Grade II* Listed     Great Ancoats Street, Manchester   M60 4BT  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:39:01 +0100</pubDate><category>D</category></item><item><title>C is for CIS</title><link>http://iloapp.manchestermodernistsociety.org/blog/a-z?Home&amp;post=55</link><description><![CDATA[  CIS Building (Co-operative Insurance Society)  Gordon Tait / G S Hay 1962  Grade II Listed     Miller Street   Manchester   M60  0DL 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:27:45 +0100</pubDate><category>C</category></item></channel>
</rss>