As the dates on the front of the building point out, this was once the Royal Eye Hospital, founded in 1814 but occupying this building on Oxford Road from 1884.  It was designed by Pennington & Bridgen.


As part of a four year construction project at the Central Manchester University Hospital complex, a new Royal Manchester Eye Hospital has been built behind this 1884 building.   


In 2014 the old building is being redeveloped into "City Labs", "A hub for biomedical innovation and excellence" which, as the information outside indicates, involves the creation of "Flexible office and laboratory space available at the heart of the city's knowledge quarter".