Interior in Manchester Town Hall

The planning for a new Town Hall for Manchester began n 1863. Manchester as the industrial power house of the British Empire wanted a Town Hall befitting its status.

A competition was held and and won by Alfred Waterhouse who was appointed in 1868. It took until 1877 to complete and is in Gothic Revivial style with elements derived from 13th Century Early English Style. It is faced with hard "Spinkwell Stone" from near Bradford, the soft red local sandstone, being deemed unsuitable as it blackened easily given the severe atmospheric pollution of Manchester in the 19th Century. Spinkwell stone was chose to resist "the deleterious influences of Manchester atmosphere".

The design stipulated "sufficiency of window light" and the interior decoration, seen here, was chosen with a view to providing permanent colour and cleanable surfaces. Corridors are faced with terracotta not plaster and there a stone vaulted ceilings, tiled dados and washable mosaic floors.

Modern technology was used under the medieval design. There was gas-lighting and a warm-air heating system (not turned on when I took the photo!) which provided fresh air drawn in though ornamental inlets beneath the windows.

The Town Hall contains 12 wonderful murals by Ford Madox Brown depicting important events in the history of the city from the construction of the original Roman fort by Julius Agricola using British slaves in AD 60, through the expulsion of the Danes, the trial of Wycliffe in 1377, Manchester's defence against the Royalists in 1642, the opening of the Bridgewater Canal in 1761 and Dalton collecting marsh gas that led to his atomic theory.

The Town Hall resembles the Palace of Westminster - although slightly more restrained in its gothicism - and is frequently used for TV and films as a location.