Richmond Street, The Molly House
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Richmond Street, The Molly House by David Dixon as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
![](https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/04/54/00/4540033_bd264821.jpg)
Image: © David Dixon Taken: 21 Jun 2015
The Molly House is a bar on Richmond Street at the centre of Manchester’s Village. In 18th century England, the term "molly" referred to an effeminate (usually homosexual) male http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/molly2.htm . A molly house was a tavern or private room where gay and cross-dressing men could meet each other either for socializing or as possible sexual partners. Molly houses were one precursor to some types of gay bars. The enormous mural, which takes up the entire gable end of the building, was created in September 2014 to honour the city’s most famous gay people. It features five larger than life famous faces who are considered to be LGBT icons, two of which are very well known around Manchester’s gay scene; legendary drag queens Anna Phylactic (top) and Foo Foo Lammar (top right). The others are feminist Emmeline Pankhurst (top left), writer Quentin Crisp (bottom left) and computing pioneer Alan Turing (bottom right). The design, which also incorporates dancing bears on a rainbow, was chosen after a public competition organised by gay community group Queerchester. It features winning artist Glenn Jones' creation along with designs by runners up Lauren Jo Kelly, Adam Pryce and Mark Wallis (http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/pictured-artists-create-massive-mural-7827794 Manchester Evening News). The multi-coloured makeover to the side of the Victorian building took little more than a week to be completed. It was done using spray paint instead of brushes.