County Court, Manchester

The County Court is a Georgian townhouse on Quay Street in Manchester, England, that served as the city's county court from 1878 to 1990. It was the home of the politician and reformer Richard Cobden, and later the site of Owens College, the forerunner of the University of Manchester. In origin, it is a townhouse of the 1770s, described as "the best preserved Georgian house in the [city] centre". The house is built of brick and has a late 19th-century doorcase. It was designated a Grade II* listed building on 3 October 1974. The interior is not original.

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Quay Street

Quay Street is a street in Manchester city centre in Greater Manchester, England. The street, designated the A34, continues Peter Street westwards towards the River Irwell and Salford. It is the northern boundary of Spinningfields, the city's business district and Castlefield, the historical area of the city, lies to the south. Quay Street was created in the 18th century for access to a quay on the river and is lined by several listed buildings. Edward Byrom built a quay on the River Irwell in the 1730s and the street was built to link it to Deansgate which was then known as Aldport Lane. In 1794 it was extended eastwards to Mosley Street. Richard Cobden's red brick townhouse, built in the Georgian style was the first home of Owens College and afterwards Manchester County Court. It is a Grade II* listed building. In the 1840s, Harry Stokes ran a beerhouse at numbers 3–5 Quay Street. The Hospital for Skin Diseases was in Quay Street. The Opera House, formerly the New Theatre, was built in 1912 by Albert Richardson and Charles Lovett Gill with Farquarson in the classical style. Architect Joseph Sunlight built the Grade II listed Sunlight House. He had planned to build the Quay Street Tower, a 360-foot (110 m) high-rise Art Deco building behind Sunlight House but was refused planning permission. Had it been built, it would have been not only Manchester's tallest building, but the tallest in Europe. The street is known for Granada Studios, the UK's first purpose-built television studios and home to Granada Television. The building was designed by architect Ralph Tubbs and was an early example of a building constructed using the curtain wall method. In September 2010, the red 'Granada TV' sign was removed from the building as it was extensively corroded.

Manchester Opera House

The Opera House in Quay Street, Manchester, England, is a 1,920-seater commercial touring theatre that plays host to touring musicals, ballet, concerts and a Christmas pantomime. It is a Grade II listed building and one of the main theatres in Manchester. The Opera House and its sister theatre the Palace Theatre on Oxford Street are operated by the same parent company, Ambassador Theatre Group.

St John's Gardens, Manchester

St John's Gardens in central Manchester, England, lies between Lower Byrom Street, Byrom Street and Quay Street. Previously occupied by St John's Church and its graveyard between 1769 and 1931, the site was redeveloped into a formal garden in 1932. It contains a central memorial to the church and those buried in its graveyard, whose tombstones have been covered over by 18 inches (460 mm) of soil except for that of John Owens, founder of Owen's College. The garden was awarded a Green Flag in 2012 and is part of the St John Street conservation area.

St John's Church, Manchester

St John's Church, Manchester, also known as St John's, Deansgate, was an Anglican parish church in Manchester, England, established in 1769 and demolished in 1931. Its site is now that of St John's Gardens, situated between Lower Byrom Street, Byrom Street and Quay Street. St John's Church was built in 1769 by Edward Byrom, a co-founder of the first bank in Manchester. Its parish encompassed a large and important section of the city of Manchester. The first rector, John Clowes, held the office for 62 years until his death in 1831. Clowes preached the first Sunday school sermon in the Manchester area, introduced Swedenborgianism there and was prominent in championing Whit Walks. Clowes was succeeded by William Huntington, who had held the post of curate since 1826 and continued as rector until his death in 1874. Huntington established the Sunday school, for which he laid the foundation stone in 1827. In 1906, around 250 children attended the Sunday school and the church had numerous affiliated groups, such as a Penny Bank and a Choral Society. By the early 1900s, the graveyard was overshadowed on its northern side by a warehouse built on the Quay Street site of the Byrom family residence, and with a declining congregation and some redundancy of provision given the nearby St Matthew's Church, the Manchester diocese decided to merge the parish of St John's with St Matthew's in 1927. As a result, the church was demolished in 1931. The church has been described as the first significant building in Manchester to be constructed in the Gothic Revival style of architecture. Construction of the tower, which contained a peal of eight bells manufactured by Lester and Pack, was completed in May 1770. The first restoration took place in 1821, including a re-roofing paid for by a daughter of Byrom. Between 1874 and 1878 work was done at a cost of £1,600 and in 1898 the lighting was converted from gas to electric. The church bells, which were described as "among the best peal of bells in Manchester", were rehung in 1832 and again around 1883. The roof collapsed in 1924 and was rebuilt by 1926. Among people who were commemorated in the church windows were John Owens, and Sir Thomas Bazley. Today the graveyard of the church is commemorated by a stone cross and a plaque states that more than 22,000 bodies lie buried in the vicinity. Among those buried in the churchyard are John Owens, the founder of Owens College, and William Marsden, who founded the concept of a half-day holiday on Saturdays.