Manchester's very own beach, Castle Sands, has returned, albeit by the canal... In the Madchester era (circa. 1988-1992) Stone Roses' vocalist Ian Brown famously said that “Manchester has got everything except a beach.” Well, we have now. Ok, Castle Sands is hardly a Mediterranean hotspot or the rolling sands of west Wales, but city beaches are a lovely idea in my book. See you there!
The Palace Hotel, formerly the Refuge Assurance Building.
The first phase of this Grade II listed red brick and terracotta building was designed for the Refuge Assurance Company by Alfred Waterhouse and built 1891–1895. The inside was of Burmantofts faience pottery and glazed brick. The ground floor was one enormous open business hall.
It was extended, with a striking 217-foot (66 m) tower, along Oxford Street by his son Paul Waterhouse in 1910–1912. It was further extended along Whitworth Street by Stanley Birkett in 1932.
The Refuge Assurance Company occupied the building until 1987. Although the Refuge Assurance company had discussed turning the building into a new home for The Hallé Orchestra, the funding required for the project did not materialise. It was converted to a hotel by Richard Newman in 1996, and is now the Palace Hotel.
A lone planter is hard at work on the Moss Lane allotments, getting the last of the spring seeds sown. Fruit and veg doesn't grow by itself...
Some Taiko drummers celebrating 100 years of the lovely Japanese Garden at Tatton Park. Taken last May Day Bank holiday Monday. I hope to visit and post some photos of the Japanese gardens in a couple of months.
Sackville Gardens, which was created by Manchester City Council in the 1880s. The plan being that you could view the magnificence of the newly built UMIST from here (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology).
Views of the more impressive parts of that institution will appear here another time. As will a tour of Sackville Gardens, which also contains the Beacon of Hope (HIV monument) http://www.beacon-of-hope.org.uk/about.htm and a statue of Alan Turing (computer scientist, Enigma code) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
Looking north up Princess Street. A Greek restaurant "Bouzaki by night" on the left, then a 5 star Chinese restaurant "Middle Kingdom". http://www.middlekingdomuk.com/
This is in a building called Manchester House. The middle building is Asia House, and the third - with the turret - is Lancaster House. The latter two edifices are now apartments. All were originally early 20th century packing and shipping warehouses.
Manchester's Chinese Arch, the biggest in Europe when built in 1987, but since overtaken by Liverpool's. Manchester has the third largest Chinatown in Europe.
The Manchester Chinese Archive states: "One of the landmarks of Manchester, the magnificent Chinese Arch on Faulkner Street which defines Chinatown declares the importance of the Chinese community in Manchester. Embellished with dragons and phoenixes in mesmerizing colours, with symbols of luck and prosperity, the arch, the first true imperial Chinese arch to have been erected in Europe, appears to have stood for hundreds of years, yet it was here only since 1987. "
www.manchesterchinesearchive.org.uk
Back to work after the May Day holidays. Maybe a bunch of flowers will help cheer us up- at least it is still gloriously sunny here in the UK.
Here is Flower Style florists, a fixture on Quay Street, Manchester city centre for well over a decade.
Every first day of the month is theme day for all City Daily bloggers and the May 2011 theme is "Mailboxes". But as I consider the international workers' holiday of May Day to take precedence, I have delayed this post until 2 May.
So, in the land of the red post boxes, this blue postbox must surely be king.
Not painted over by in Manchester City FC light blue as a reaction to all the Manchester United FC coloured red post/pillar/mail boxes throughout the the UK, but a leftover from a forgotten age ~ In the 1930s some UK postboxes were painted blue to signify they were for airmail. This one is on Liverpool Road.
Happy May Day to all workers (and those made redundant or facing redundancy) everywhere!
One of the 100 Antony Gormley sculptures on Crosby Beach, Merseyside (formerly Lancashire). This is, therefore, 1% of the 2007 installation called "Another Place."
