SJ8498 : Piccadilly Gardens
taken 8 years ago, near to Manchester, England
Piccadilly has been a focal point in the city of Manchester for generations. Prior to 1910, the site which later became Piccadilly Gardens was occupied by The Manchester Royal Infirmary. When the Infirmary was demolished, it was originally planned to build a new art gallery on the site but this plan didn’t come to fruition and in the end a sunken garden was created with a wide promenade around the statues.
Link shows the gardens as they were laid out after the Second World War, following heavy bombing. It was painted by LS Lowry in 1954. SJ8498 : Piccadilly Gardens (1979) is a photograph showing the gardens as they were in 1979.
However, in 2002, the Piccadilly Gardens area was redesigned resulting in the removal of the sunken garden to be replaced by a grassed area and the building of a charmless concrete wall dividing the new "Gardens" from the busy bus and tram interchange. To pay for this redevelopment, an office building was erected, using the south east corner of the gardens. There is a fountain which provides a pleasant gathering point in sunny weather (SJ8498 : Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester) but the grassy area soon becomes muddy when it is wet.
City Tower, (formerly the Sunley Building) is a 30-storey skyscraper 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 designed by Covell, Matthews & Partners. It is currently the third tallest building in Manchester. The Tower has retail units on the ground and is Manchester's main radio transmitting station located on the roof.
Wikipedia: Link