IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
First Street, MANCHESTER, M15 4GU

Office buildings in Manchester.

The view from the first floor of Image

The novel cycle stands next to No1 First Street are designed in the form of a pelaton with the yellow bike in the lead.

Near HOME arts centre, Manchester.

Number One First Street was completed in March 2009. It is a striking office building on the site of the former Gaythorn Gas Works; a plot of land at the side of the railway viaduct that runs along Whitworth Street West. The building was erected after the gasworks had been demolished the land cleared and. Initially it was a grey clad structure designed for the British Council and completed in 1991. At that point it was called Grand Island. Subsequently the British Council moved out of Manchester and in 1997 British Telecom became the occupant. As part of the new “First Street” development, the building was transformed and re-branded as “Number One First Street” (http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/tours/tour7/area7page16.html Manchester History Net includes pictures of the redevelopment). More details: http://www.firststreetmanchester.com/ “Welcome to First Street” (ASK) http://manchestermule.com/article/who-benefits-from-first-streets-regeneration “Who benefits from First Street’s regeneration?” (Manchester Mule)

Turner prize-nominated artist Phil Collins moved this Soviet-era statue of Friedrich Engels from Ukraine and permanently installed it in Manchester as part of the Manchester International Festival in 2017. Friedrich Engels was resident in Manchester, on and off, for 22 years between 1842 and 1869. The toppled statue was retrieved from behind a creamery in Mala Pereshchepina, Ukraine. Not everyone approves of the statue's presence outside HOME Image For an insight into the controversy read Confidentials: Manchester https://confidentials.com/manchester/friedrich-engels-HOME-first-street-manchester-was-his-return-right-or-wrong

A closer look at Image This statue of German-born philosopher, writer, and radical thinker Friedrich Engels was part of “Ceremony”, a project by the Turner prize-nominated artist Phil Collins which involved driving the Soviet-era statue from Ukraine and permanently installing it outside HOME https://homemcr.org/ in Manchester as part of the Manchester International Festival in 2017, 100 years after the ideas from The Communist Manifesto, written by Engels and Karl Marx, changed the course of history by inspiring the Russian Revolution during the final phase of the First World War. Engels, who was born in 1820 arrived in Manchester in 1842 where he lived for more than 20 years. While observing the slums of Manchester in close detail, Engels took notes of its horrors, notably child labour, the despoiled environment, and overworked and impoverished labourers. The horrific conditions he saw in the cradle of industrialism undoubtedly shaped his works. Not everyone approves of the statue's presence outside HOME Image For an insight into the controversy read Confidentials: Manchester https://confidentials.com/manchester/friedrich-engels-HOME-first-street-manchester-was-his-return-right-or-wrong . Further concern has been raised following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but it should be remembered that re-erecting his statue in Manchester was never intended as a homage to the Soviet Union. Instead, it was Engels' links to Manchester that led to it being rehoused here. His Manchester observations are the basis of 'The Condition of the Working Class in England', one of his most famous works. Engels was a German anti-war activist who declared that “A nation can be free if it oppresses other nations.” https://marxists.architexturez.net/archive/marx/works/1847/12/09.htm (Speeches at the International Meeting held in London on November 29, 1847, to mark the 17th Anniversary of the Polish Uprising of 1830)

Further development on First Street.

Café/Bar at the new HOME arts centre.

HOME Arts Centre, first floor level.