Got to take photos with my daughter of Manchester buildings tomorrow. Park in Salford then I thought the rusty one, courts, John Ryland, Armani shop, central library any others? Inspire me. Thanks 1 shed.

Town Hall, Victorian industrial buildings, all that Salford stuff (except for War Museum which is rubbish), there’s some massively overbearing Ian Simpson buildings.

Town Hall

Theres some very photogenic spaces inside the town hall – especially if its a sunny day

Don’t necessarily go for the obvious. Take a walk around somewhere like ancoats and keep looking up. That’s where you see the interesting stuff. The loading bays of old mill buildings for example. The Peeps. See if it’s possible to get access to the underground canals and tunnels

IMHO. The benchmark for photographing somewhere as fascinating as Manchester is Andrew Brooks Hidden Manchester

Just have an enjoyable wander round the city and snap away

I always thought that Urbis was a fantastic building, as is Manchester City Hall, and Rylands’ Library on Deansgate.

There are so many interesting ones to see, as Binners says, just have a wander. I quite enjoy the small lanes around the city centre that give you a sense of Victorian life, just before stepping out into the light of a broad street and seeing some cool environmental apartment development.

Town Hall has a bloody great Santa and a shed load of scaffolding outside it now.

John Rylands Library (Deansgate), St Ann’s Church (St Ann’s Square), The Lowry (Salford Quays) are all worth a look.

Seeing Binners’ picture above reminds me that the cafe underneath Manchester Cathedral is kind of interesting in its own right.

Toast Rack, CIS tower (not the new one), Broomhurst Hall in Didsbury, Wythenshawe Forum, most of Salford University, Renaissance Hotel on Deansgate, Piccadilly Hotel on Portland St, Daily Express Building on Great Ancoats St, “Filing Cabinet” civil court building, Midland Bank (now Jamie’s restaurant) on Kings St – in fact most of Kings St (it’s full of amazing buildings, several of which are listed), MacDonald Hotel (formerly BT bldg) on London Road. And many of the University and MMU buildings (esp the former UMIST campus – some great concrete and the extraordinary Sackville Building).

On the small city centre street, search out the Hidden Gem (St Mary’s church on Mulberry St – between Lincoln Sq and John Dalton St)

Oxford Road station – beautiful.

Royal Assurance Building opposite the Cornerhouse.

Central Library on St Peter’s Square.

Peveril of the Peak pub (outside is covered in green tiles) – great contrast with the Barbirolli Sq buildings behind.

Bridgewater Hall. Amazing in every way, including the engineering and the music.

So, so many wonderful buildings in Manchester.

The Manchester Modernist Society has a great city guide on its website.

Reform Synagogue

Royal Exchange theatre (inside, obviously)

Out of town St Caths Catholic church in Lowton.

Last one: go for a drink in the Temple of Convenience. Wide angle lens only….

Thanks for your response, lots to see and do tomorrow.

Have fun!

Our man you would be a great tour guide.

I lived there for 10 years and am a bit of a modern architecture junkie.

Such a superb city, and binners is right – just wander round and look up.

Photograph the Marble Arch (Grade 2 listed), Rochdale Rd, then go in and have one of their excellent beers.

The Midland hotel is a superb lump of Victorian gothic railway architecture.

Of the modern stuff, I like the curvy new Coop building opposite the three older buildings. If you’ve got time, take a trip to Media City and while in Deansgate look out for the Northern Railway goods warehouse, almost opposite the Pinarello boutique.

The midland hotel is amazing. When visiting Manchester as a student, a certain A Hitler loved it so much he planned to make it the headquarters of the Gestapo, once he’d got the small matter of invading the country out of the way.

The Free Trade Hall, and what I’ll always refer to as GMEX. Are pretty impressive too,right next too it. As our man said, Oxford Road station is a gem too.

You’ve got a very un-Manchester day for it. Perfect light for it. Have fun!

Let us know how you get on, and what you ended up snapping. It’d be great to see the results

The old Express Newspaper group building on Great Ancoats Street is wonderful.
Just behind it is St Michael’s church – a bit of a stunner if you can get access – still interesting if you can’t.

The old Spanish Embassy on Spring Gardens has some amazing gargoyles.

And if you want a bit of a juxtaposition between the old and new, Angel Churchyard and the old Ragged School just off Red Bank are spot on.

The interior of St Patrick’s in Collyhurst is based on St Peter’s in Rome and has the first hollow marble pillars in the UK – the old school and convent behind it are very atmospheric.

So much to go at, good luck!

Victoria station surely worth a visit, although how much is visible with the renovations might be an issue.

Well we had a great time time today and took lots of photos. The weather was unusually kind sunshine and blue sky. Started at the bridge by the Lowry hotel. The buildings of interest were the courts old and new, the pump house, Wood Street mission, John Ryland, Armani, the hidden gem, town hall, central library, Bridgewater hall, the tiled pub nearby and then a building near Piccadilly gardens. Nearly forgot we included the Gestapo hotel thanks for the info Binners. Then we went to meet the rest of the family and had lunch at yo sushi at Piccadilly station. Considering this was a art project for my daughter I loved it, no shopping just looking up and seeing what a wonderful city Manchester is. Cheers 1 shed.