Review of Manchester City Council Town Hall (Manchester City Council)

Member Name: sttrow

Product:	Manchester City Council
Date:	15/08/07 (397 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A supreme example of craftmanship at it's very best

Disadvantages: No enough tower trips are organised

This is a review on the Town Hall in Albert Square, Manchester, UK.

Manchester City Council Brief Overview
In 1838 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 Manchester was incorporated as the Manchester Corporation or Corporation of Manchester. In 1853 Manchester was rewarded with being classed as a City - this was only the second place in England to be awarded City status since the Reformation. Under the Local Government Act 1972 the council was reconstituted as a metropolitan borough council and is the second largest Council in England employing more than 27,000 people (Birmingham is the largest and employees over 50,000)

History of the Town Hall
Manchester Town Hall was constructed between 1868-1877 and came about because the Town Hall in King Street had become too small to accomodate the rapidly expanding Corporation.

A competition was held, and it was won by Alfred Waterhouse (1830 - 1905). The site chosen was an triangular shape on which had to be fitted a large hall, numerous reception rooms and living quarters for the Lord Mayor, not forgetting offices for all the departments and a chamber for Council meetings.

Waterhouse successfully combined all of these requirements. The Town Hall design is in the thirteenth century Gothic style but Waterhouse described it as a being "essentially of the nineteenth century." The structure is made from fourteen million bricks encased in spinkwell stone and for the time, had such innvovative systems such as a warm air heating system.

Exterior of the Town Hall
The Town Hall is now a Grade One listed building and there are some notable sculptures on the outside. Above the main door is a statue of the Roman General Agricola, who founded Mamucium in 79 AD. Above him are Henry III and Elizabeth I, while at the apex of the main door gable is a statue of St. George.

Centrally to the Town hall is the magnificent 280 foot high clock tower. The mechanism for the clock was made by Gillet and Bland, and it started ticking and donging on New Year's Day in 1879. There is an inscription on the three clock faces and they are clearly visible from Albert Square - they say "Teach us to number our Days." In total there are 24 bells in the tower; the Great Hour Bell weighs 8 ton and 2 cwt and carries the name of Great Abel, which is named after Abel Heywood, the Mayor at the time of the official opening. Abel Heywood laid the pinnacle stone of the spire on December 4th 1875. However the opening ceremony took place on 13 September 1877.

The cost of the Town Hall was around £1 million, which was a mind-boggling amount of money at the time.

The main entrance on Albert Square has an archway 7 feet deep - the thickness of these walls supports the main tower. There is a glass mosaic roof in the entrance hall and within it is an oak trapdoor, through which the tower’s bells can be lowered to street level. On one side of the hall is a statue of the famous chemist and philosopher John Dalton and on the other a statue of the great physicist, James Joule.

The Sculpture Hall
After entering through the main entrance the Sculpture Hall is to the right. This hall measures 53 ft by 33 ft, and has a groined roof made from Bath stone brought from the Forest of Dean. Amongst the many statues are those of conductor Sir Charles Hallé; Richard Cobden and John Bright and the remarkable triptych of celebrated Hallé orchestra conductor, Sir John Barbirolli.

Town Hall Staircases
There are Seven staircases leading from level one to level two. The first two are the grand staircases which lead up from the Sculpture Hall to the state rooms; there are two centre block staircases followed by another three spiral staircases which are known as the English, Scottish and Irish staircases because each of these countries provided granite for the steps and columns. Waterhouse designed "easy tread stairs" to enable the Victorian ladies in their finest frocks to ascend and descend the stairs without having to look down. He also cleverly concealed the gas pipe, which carried the gas for the lighting, underneath the banister rails of the spiral staircases (You have to look carefully to spot it!!)

The Great Hall and the other state rooms
Without doubt the most impressive floor in the Town Hall is the second floor which contains the Great Hall and the staterooms. There is the Lord Mayor’s Parlour which has an extremely high ceiling and there are many portraits of public figures. Thene there is the Reception Room which has an alabaster fireplace and bears the figures of Truth and Justice. Next along you have the Banqueting Room which has two fireplaces, one made from Hopton Wood stone and the other made from oak. The original Council Chamber is now the Conference Hall and it contains a fascinating oak screen and canopy and a gallery. Just above the landing in front of the Great Hall is a skylight on which are inscribed the names of mayors, lord mayors and chairs of the Council since Manchester received its Charter of Corporation in 1838. The Great Hall has a truly superb ceiling which is separated into panels bearing the arms of the principal countries and towns with which Manchester traded. The lobby just outside the Great Hall is known as the Bees. On the mosaic floor you will notice a pattern of bees (hence the name) The bee is symbolic of Manchester’s industry and is found on the city’s coat of arms (you may also remember that it used to be on Boddington's Bitter, when Boddingtions was brewed and biolled as "The Cream of manchester"). Also on the mosaic floors a border of white strands and stylised cotton flowers commemorate Manchester’s involvement in the cotton trade. The marble flooring goes on for some 4500 yards and it was laid down by Venetian craftsmen.

The Town Hall Today
Today the Town Hall Complex, which comprises of the Town Hall and the Town Hall Extension, are very popular tourist attractions. The complex is not only the seat of local government in Manchester, it is also an emblem of civic pride and the face of Manchester City Council. Even today it is still a centre of office administration, with around 3,500 staff working there.


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Summary: A fantastic building which is worth visiting