 I have seen references
that say that 25 Church Street is a former Edwardian
warehouse and others that say it is a former telephone
exchange. It may be that it is both. There
is however evidence that in the 1950s it was home to
"Post Office Telephones, Manchester Area". In
February of 1957 the Post Office sent a letter to a Mr
Barnard regarding an outstanding account. At the
time Mr Barnard was residinbg in Western
Australia. The letter head clearly indicates that
the office was at 25 Church Street. I was rather
suprised that the post office chased Mr Barnard for
£7.19.4 but Nigel, Mr Barnard's son, pointed out that in
today's money that would be £165
 .Whatever its former role, today it is a mixed use building home to a large number of apartments, a fitness centre and a restaurant. The architectural practice of Conran & Partners were commissioned by City Lofts to do the conversion. The £5.2 million project was completed in 2000. The architect's website says this of the building, "The existing top floor was removed and replaced with six two-storey duplex apartments with barrel-vaulted roofs creating a striking new profile to the city roof-scape." Below you can see the
original building, indicated by a red arrow, in an
aerial photograph taken in 1953.
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