IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Blackley Street, MANCHESTER, M16 9GF

Once technical institute and library, this building on Stretford Road now houses the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple. Chinese readers will find this link useful: http://www.blia.org/

A splendidly boisterous temple of commerce by Briggs & Wolstenholme, 1896. The offices show off to the street in pulsating brick and terracotta, liberally dotted with towers, turrets and finials (Image]). Grade II listed. The listing calls it the "Essence Factory" as it was built for Duckworth & Co., which manufactured colouring and essences. The firm left in 2003 and at 2023 the building still lies empty. From the outside it appears to be in reasonable condition, but water ingress has occurred so it needs fixing soon.

Looking towards Manchester city centre. Much re-development is taking place, beyond the boarded up offices of the Trafford Press is the former National Works building which has been converted into residential apartments.

The nearest building was the former Veno Drug Company factory, the central one latterly the Trafford Press; both these two have lost their rear buildings, but maybe the facades will survive. The third building with its towers is a former essences factory and is Grade II listed. Three fine examples of different stiles of terracotta architecture, but will they survive?

Duckworth's Essence Distillery building on Chester Road. https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/outside/duckworths.html

Duckworth and Co. (Essences), Old Trafford Now an empty building but the Duckworth Group was founded in Manchester in 1885 by 24 year-old William Duckworth. In 1896 the company moved to this new purpose-built premises in Old Trafford. The Duckworth Group was a manufacturer of flavourings and fruit compounds. In 2003, the Duckworth Group was taken over by Cargill.

The home of the well known cough medicine created by Sir William Veno. The company became part of the Beecham pharmaceuticals empire in the 1930s. This building is sadly now being demolished.

Strikingly white, though it wasn't always so, with Deco overtones and a pair of giant Ionic columns flanking the entrance. Built for the eponymous drug company. It has had a rocky ride since Image As can be seen it was not demolished, but a scheme to convert it to flats foundered when the developers went bust and it is now one of a trio of fine but slowly decaying neighbouring buildings on Chester Road.

Finely carved terracotta detail to this building: Image