One St. Peter's Square

The image above shows the corner of St. Peter's Square and Oxford Street on October 8, 2014. It shows work underway on the construction of One St. Peter's Square, a new building designed by the Glenn Howells architectural practice. The architect's website says of the building that it will, " ... include an active mix of uses at ground floor level, with cultural space for public exhibitions, as well as a stunning, double height reception, offering panoramic views across the proposed redeveloped St Peter's Square, refurbished Central Library and Town Hall extension."

*********************

This was once the location of Elisabeth House.

Elisabeth House occupied that site until 2012 when it was demolished to make way for the new building. It was designed by Cruickshank and Seward, the architects of much of the UMIST campus. When it was built is a bit of a mystery. All the architectural references that bother to include it say that it was built between 1959 and 1960 however the Manchester Council Planning Department indicated that it was in fact built in 1971.

It was intended that this concrete-framed building would be clad in stone but apparently the developers ran out of money. The building provides offices with shops on street level.

When I visited the site on October 13, 2011, I noticed men in HiVis jackets and hard hats inside Elisabeth House and on the outside there was a board advertising the work of "Connell Bros - Award Winning Demolition Contractor", so it looked like the "end was nigh" for Elisabeth House.

**********************

In the 1840s the site was occupied by a "Scotch Church" and St. Peter's Hotel. When Elisabeth House was built it took up the whole block to George Street and Back George Street disappeared.

Below my poor sketch of the Scotch Church.

By the 1880s the Scotch Church and St. Peter's Hotel were both gone to be replaced by a collection of warehouses with offices and shops and a restaurant on street level.