Congregational Church - Cavendish Street



The Congregational Church once stood on the corner of Cavendish Street and Higher Chatham Street not far from Grosvenor Square.  It was located between Righton's Drapery Store on one side and Paulden's Department Store on the other.  The church was designed by Edward Walters a prominent Manchester architect, responsible for many important buildings in the city including the Free Trade Hall.  It was built between 1847 and 1848 at a cost of £30,000.  It was described by the architectural historian, Henry-Russell Hitchcock as, "Perhaps the first dissenting church to appear like a contemporary Anglican church."  The purple arrow on the map below shows its former location.



The building had a 171 foot tower which rather dominated the area.  You can see it rising above All Saints Church in the old postcard image below.



If you click on the link below you can see the church in 1958.

Congregational Church 1958

The link below shows you the view down Cavendish in 1905. 

Cavendish Street 1905


The church closed in 1969 and was demolished in 1973.  The image below shows the same view down Cavendish Street in 2010.  The Manchester Metropolitan University's Cavendish Hall of Residence has replaced the Congregational Church and goes on to span Cavendish Street.  The tree beyond Righton's shop roughly marks the church's former location.



Below you can see the former site of the Congregational Church taken in 2010 from the Higher Chatham Street side.


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