IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Crown Square, MANCHESTER, M3 3AY

Originally a "pop-up" venue in the Spinningfields area it is now set to become a permanent fixture.

Originally a "pop-up" venue in the Spinningfields area it has now become a permanent fixture.

Part of the Bee in the City project, sponsored by Deloitte and sited in front of the Oast House pub in the Avenue, Spinningfields. Worker bees account for the majority of bees in a hive. They play an integral role in the maintenance and preparation of the hive to store nectar and pollen, as well as the production of honey and wax, foraging for pollen and collecting nectar. Manchester born Laura-Kate’s design is an ode to worker bees and to the many important roles they undertake across their lifespan.

The Avenue / North, part of an urban realm improvement in central Manchester.

Located in Spinningfields this Bee was created by Laura-Kate Chapman and sponsored by The Oast House.

From Quay Street. The telephoto foreshortening makes everything appear nearer than it really is: the most distant of the multi-storey blocks is (the Tax Office) on Bridge Street. The trees are in Crown Square, in front of the Courthouse.

The far building of Portland stone with windows divided by vertical mullions and entrance with a wavy canopy is by L.C. Howitt, 1957-62. To the fore is a little of the extension by the Property Services Agency, c1986. It is rather more brutal. Pevsner considers it all a "come-down" from Alfred Waterhouse's original buildings, destroyed in the Blitz.

Built as Scottish Life House by Leach, Rhodes & Walker, 1966. Quoting from "Manchester - An Architectural History" (by John J. Parkinson-Bailey), http://manchesterhistory.net notes that the construction method was unusual: "the ... approach was first to erect the central core of steel columns and then cast the eight floor slabs individually on the ground, one on top of the other, each floor separated by a layer of resin to stop them sticking together - all rather like a large liquorice allsort. When all the floors had been cast, they were individually hoisted into position." It was recently slated for demolition, but instead it was at the time of the photo being refurbished, a Waitrose supermarket having moved into the ground floor.

This area used to exist between the rear of John Ryland's Library and the Law Courts but was subsumed in the extensive building developments of the 'Spinning Fields' area, west of Deansgate.