feature of the month

nb - readers of a sensitive nature might wish to look away now & shield their eyes from explicit scenes of mindless violence against helpless architectural rarities...

BBC New Broadcasting House

November 2011

Oxford Road, Manchester

And so, the BBC leaves its Manchester base for Salford and turns off the studio lights for the very last time. Opened by Prime Minister James Callaghan in June 1976, the building will be decommissioned after North West Tonight in the last week of November 2011, and the last remaining team will join 1700 other BBC staff at Media City UK.

After compulsory purchase orders were approved for the site in 1967, planning began and after abandoning designs by an external architect, design work was completed the BBC's Architectural and Civil Engineering Department, with a completion date of 1975.

The BBC has sold the premises to Reality Estates for an undisclosed fee. Reality Estates won the bid from a shortlist including the likes of Bruntwood and Downing. Reality Estates also own Gateway House on Piccadilly Station Approach and the former Manchester Abattoir in Newton Heath.

Perhaps unloved by many due to its uncompromising concrete facade, possibly one of the most impressive features is the radio studio built to house the Northern Symphony Orchestra, later known as the BBC Philharmonic, alas this huge studio is now silent but the band plays on.. in Salford.

APRIL SPECIAL FEATURE -

Manchester’s cenotaph to be moved to make way for metrolink tram line...

this provocative headline caught our eye in the MEN recently and from the reaction of the local press and its readers it seems we weren’t alone in expressing some worries about this latest upheaval both for the memorial itself and the future of the whole of St Peters Square, currently undergoing major redevelopment. a flurry of correspondence between ourselves and the twentieth century society caseworker confirmed that this latest development is definitely one they will be keeping under scrutiny.

the Cenotaph, designed by Edward Lutyens, he of the magnificent former Midland Bank on King St (also currently under refurbishment) is almost identical to his Cenotaph in London's Whitehall, and alongside the elegant Modernist masterpieces of E Vincent Harris, and the City Architect LC Howitt’s Garden of Remembrance, forms the centrepiece to perhaps the city’s most important civic and sacred twentieth century landscapes.

the current state of play, following a closed committee meeting in March on controversial proposals to squeeze the cenotaph into the space currently occupied by the sadly neglected Peace Gardens, hints that no final decision will be made until some public consultation has been provided for. yet just when and how this consultation will take place has yet to be made clear.

just last summer the redevelopment of St Peters Square was hailed as the creation of a a world-class public space for its revamped Central Library and Town Hall Extension and none of the 5 shortlisted plans on display to the public for comment and feedback included moving the cenotaph. in fact its press release assured us that ‘The cenotaph will not be affected by the redesign of the square and will remain in its current position”

Terry Wykes’ Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester thought the calamitous addition of a tram stop back in 1992 was ‘a planning decision that suggested contempt rather than carelessness.’ 20 years on there is a unique window of opportunity to put that right rather than further compromise this significant landscape any further....

We are most grateful to Aidan Turner Bishop of the C20 NW group for his eloquent and beautiful Paean to the Cenotaph and its complex cultural, symbolic and national significance, which can be read this month on our April Icon of the Month Page…

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a true collaboration from start to finish, the Modernist Heroines project sprang from an ongoing conversation here in the MMS office about the peculiar position of women in Modernism – you know, those ‘girls’ in the Bauhaus, forbidden to take architecture and relegated to more ‘suitable’ positions in the weaving room – and the ones who occasionally broke into the men’s room such as Charlotte Perriand and Eileen Gray.

women like these were pivotal to the Modern Movement but exotically international and far from Manchester. Nearer to home were women influencing the twentieth century city or taking the lead in design, architecture and planning? Manchester was certainly at the epicentre of the women’s movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth century and their tales of bravery, struggle and daring-do are the stuff of legend. But what happened next?

in the new century Manchester was at the forefront of science, engineering and physics, leading the world in aeronautics, atomic science and computing – our universities combined have produced 25 Nobel Laureates – surely a sector ripe for bright young women eager to look under the test tube or take up the theodolite? Or were they hearing what Corbusier reputedly said to Perriand when he dismissed her initial application with a terse ‘we don’t embroider cushions here’...?

after the Pankhursts, the suffragettes and the heady Votes for Women era, how were women really progressing? IWD’s centenary celebrations seemed the perfect opportunity to find out just what the next generation of women got up to in our own back yard. We asked The LRM (Loiterers Resistance Movement) and The Shrieking Violet to help us put something interesting together and invited women to get involved.

the result is a special edition of the Shrieking Violet fanzine launching for IWD on 8 March; a collection of essays, interviews, artworks and events which aim to commemorate the achievements of just ten North West women spanning the fields of invention, aviation, media, science, design and architecture throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty first.

this month we are dedicating our features of the month to all those modernist heroines past and present be they unsung or rightly celebrated!....enjoy!

PS. to discover more heroines download a printable pdf at the Shrieking Violet blogspot.

So, where better to kick off than with local girl Sadie Speight, described as a key figure in the dissemination of modernism in Britain, yet still nowhere near as recognised as she should be....

tucked away in the bibliographical note to Clare Hartwell and Terry Wyke’s (Eds.) Making Manchester, an illustrated volume of essays on the history of architecture of Manchester and the region, 2007, is an intriguing allusion to the rarity of research undertaken into the careers of that elusive creature – the modernist female architect.

it says ‘no study exists of women’s painfully slow advance in the profession in the region in the last century. Indeed with the possible exception of designer Sadie Speight, who studied at the Manchester School of Architecture in the 20’s, there appears to be little published research.’

Intrigued by the discovery (for me at least) of another heroine to add to our collection, a little digging around soon rewarded with the following snippets of tantalisinginformation....

Sadie Speight was born in Lancashire in 1906. She and her equally bright sister Kathleen were educated at St Mary's and St Anne's, Abbots Bromley, and Manchester University, in the School of Architecture.

A bright star and rare female in the department, she graduated in 1929 with first class honours, and the accolades and scholarships didn’t end there - a Prix de Rome finalist, she also won the Zimmern Travelling Fellowship which gave her further study abroad, and in 1930 she was awarded the RIBA's silver medal and elected an associate. In 1932 she held the Faulkner Fellowship and the year following gained her Masters degree.

In the 1930's, Sadie Speight and her husband, Leslie Martin wrote two important design books, Everyday Things, 1931, and The Flat Book, 1939. Married in 1935, Martin and Speight were also architectural partners. They designed a fresh, user friendly expandable nursery in timber unit construction, in Northwich, Cheshire, and a series of three modern houses in the North of England. They were also part of an influential ‘set’ of artists and sculptors, Herbert Read's 'gentle nest of Artists'. Work had begun on Circle, a manifesto of Constructivist art, with Leslie Martin as joint editor with Naum Gabo and Ben Nicholson – The Flat Book was commissioned by Read. There seemed to be no stopping them....

after ww2 Martin forged ahead in the public sphere, whilst Sadie remained in private practice, designing for both industrial production and commercial interiors, contributing to the Festival of Britain and writing for the Architectural Review. Like many in the post war period, she was a versatile polyglot, her output incredibly varied stretching to interior design, shop-window displays as well as her architectural projects- keen to experiment and make design available to a mass market. The Council of Industrial Design was set up to promote well-designed goods and she became a founder member of its Design Research Unit, formed to make designer skills available to industry - her work for them, including kettles, electric irons and textiles, was typically ahead of its time.

On top of all this, much of her energies were injected into the outstanding career of her husband Sir Leslie Martin, the architect of the Festival Hall and from 1956 to 1972 Professor of Architecture at Cambridge, and her own notable achievements seem to have suffered from the still pervasive truism ‘behind every great man...’, making her all but forgotten to history except as Lady Martin, the other half of a great architect!

thankfully her career has become the focus of new research led by the Women and Built Space research group at the University of Brighton who have discovered evidence of her influence and significance in this most male dominated field, including her long professional correspondence with that most pernickety of architectural historians Sir Nikolas Pevsner. Jill Seddon, a key figure in this research project, writes that Speight is ‘a key figure in the dissemination of modernism in Britain and early exponent of the needs of the consumer of design, whose work until now has received little critical attention’

it surely won’t be long before the name Sadie Speight is once again back in the official canon where it belongs, rather than languishing in semi obscurity and out of the shadow of her illustrious other half..

sadie speight - modernist heroine - mar 2011

Sadie Speight, aka Lady Sarah Martin, 1906 - 1992.

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January features - Richard Brook explores 2 hidden chapels....

after december’s special investigations from Mr Rhead about the dastardly disappearance of notable public sculptures right under our very eyes, we decided to bring in the new year with the rediscovery of some hidden gems, right under our very noses!

these hot off the press reports come from our intrepid field explorer Richard Brook – thanks to him for the text, images and gorgeous architectural drawings.

plus, as a special one off treat, no RIP! this month it’s all about the Good News.....so settle down as Field Agent Brook reveals the story of two hidden chapels -

January features - Richard Brook explores 2 hidden chapels....

There are few buildings of the twentieth century that escape the curious eye of the MMS and their field agents, but occasionally from behind a wall or tucked away in some private realm a covert artefact reveals itself. One of the main stakeholders in land to the south of the city is the University and between the old institutions and the more recent pretenders there is a wealth of modern architecture to behold.

The expansion of the universities following the Robbin’s Report of 1963 resulted in the commission of Wilson Womersley to masterplan the education precinct and manage the expansion of the Polytechnic, UMIST, the University and the siting of the new RNCM. An accelerated building programme rapidly changed the face of Oxford Road as the works of Fairhurst, Cruickshank & Seward, BDP and Wilson Womersley themselves filled the gaps left by slum clearance and advanced to the projected line of the proposed ring and radial road system of the 1945 Plan and subsequent SELNEC highway study of 1962. Of course, these buildings are readily visible and accessible to those with a bent for architectural voyeurism as well as being documented in the familiar reference sources. Alongside the growth in estate for study there was a demand for new accommodation and the existing residences in the established and leafy part of Victoria Park, between Wilmslow Road and Upper Brook Street, were ready for investment and improvement.

Two of the new halls of residence were also set to include Church of England chapels as part of their development, Hulme Hall and St. Amselm’s Hall. In each case the funding was to come from the CofE Central Board of Finance in London and was not a part of the University’s commission.

 - the story continues on our marvellous modernist icons page.......

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Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester (Public Sculpture of Britain) [Paperback]

Terry Wyke Liverpool University Press

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*****ps. dont worry - this building isnt dead, far from it, but the departure of the bank certainly resulted in the demise of its beautiful modernist ground floor banking hall - we just like to shock sometimes. it clarifies the mind....

District Bank/Nat west, 55 King Street,

Casson, Condor & partners 1966-9

if there is a deluxe version of beton brut then this bold beauty is it - in its time this  was the most expensive building in Manchester, costing over £12 million, with Sir Hugh Casson as architect, who had laid out the Festival of Britain in London in 1951. he was to become President of the Royal Academy.

dark and dignified, it was purposely built in black stone to resist the notorious Manchester soot which covered virtually all the city’s buildings pre the clean air act and to give an extra gravitas to its importance as the bank's northern headquarters, a prodigious enterprise overseeing 700 branches throughout the northwest of England. 

an all-concrete shell (constructed in situ with steel reinforcement) with transfer beams and external voids for window apertures, its rough hand-tooled vertically ribbed dark cladding of Swedish granite is opulent yet refined - an elegant deference to its setting amongst such elite company as lutyens midland bank, cockeralls grade I Listed bank of England and ship canal house. though only 6 floors in height – it cleverly integrated 3 extra floors beneath ground level, including vaults below the rock table - it does seem to loom larger now that the other buildings around it have been cleaned up. perhaps this is also due to the tragic loss of its stark white modernist ground floor banking hall designed to give relief to the brooding broch-like exterior. to our mind, the late 90’s remodelling into small retail units has broken the original thoughtfulness and ingenuity of design. cube’s impeccable city tours puts it more strongly - 

‘The original smooth white Modernist banking hall, intended to contrast with the fortress like exterior has been destroyed in the building’s recent retail conversion.’

lets conclude with the technical admiration of the excellent Manchester architecture guide...

‘it demonstrates a skilled and inventive architectural interpretation of the shift away from international modernism. the sheer black ribbed granite facade employs a language of highly abstracted traditional forms. fortress like it terminates in a quasi-mansard roof although the flush-set glazing is far from traditional. the gaunt verticality of the exterior contrasts with the smooth white marble-lined horizontality of the banking hall (now entirely removed - the building's ground floor is now a small retail shopping complex) externally the building defines one edge a sheltered plaza over a parking deck’. (Manchester architecture guide 1999, canniffe and Jeffries).

not RIP but needlessly messed about with!

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SIGNS OF THE TIMES - whats in a name?

this month we investigate the stories behind three Manchester landmarks famous as much for their typefaces  - evocative messages in font – as for their architectural significance, their individual trials and tribulations revealing much about changing attitudes and times.

in another impassioned declaration of the State of Mancunia one classic glass sixties gem similarly confirmed its allegiance to the city for over 40 years, evoking the spirit of Modern Manchester long before the likes of Peter Saville graced us with their postmodern branding. Manchester House presided over the city with its bold modernist typeface, brazening it out with a dash of much needed colour no matter how overcast the sky or resolutely grey the weather.

long earmarked for demolition after being acquired for the Spinningfields redevelopment of the old civic square, it somehow managed to survive, a lone Mancunian presence in an otherwise anonymous corporate world. when it was announced earlier this year that it was to be retained and refurbished anchored by the city’s first waitrose, we knew the writing was on the wall for this stalwart guardian of a lost modernist aspiration.

built by those doyens of Manchester modernism Leach Rhodes Walker it was the last word in innovation and up to the minute engineering. Manchester house was as cutting edge as it got, literally stopping traffic with its in situ construction. moreover dennis sharp included it in his 1968 city vistas series –

Manchester House, Bridge St

Leach Rhodes Walker, 1965-2010

built as the Scottish Life House, but soon adopting a more local moniker, Manchester House is one of the last surviving monuments  to the fallen civic aspirations of its age, partially realised in what is now Spinningfields on the River Irwell. terminating the Processional Way complex of Crown and Cumberland Square, its new name spelt out in sky blue boldly proclaimed the living embodiment of the 1945 Manchester Plan, its very construction an innovation.

Leach Rhodes Walker introduced new techniques here, making it a sixties cause celeb hitting the headlines and regularly stopping traffic whilst being put together piece by piece, constructed in in situ concrete in a continuous casting process by means of a climbing  shutter. the floor slabs were then all cast on top of one another at ground level and lifted by jacks around the core into their eventual position, its central core containing a scissor staircase and services. as sharp adds dryly, these measures saved considerable time and expense.

the finished block took the form of a square 8 storey tower over a 2 story podium which in its time has been home to the Manchester building society, the fabulous shimla pinks and the arts council north west. it also featured in the opening sequence of the film version of the Manchester sitcom The Lovers, the entire scene epitomising the groovy new swinging sixties city with its Georgie Best boutique, mini skirted dolly birds and lunch time discotheques. Manchester had never had it so good....

a pity then that this symbol of post war reconstruction, built by one of the city’s finest architectural firms in the new idiom, couldn’t remain. after all the new waitrose only takes up a quarter of the ground floor space and has its fascia demurely  written above its lintel. so why remove the signage at all – cant it remain Manchester house, or is a new name, one less evocative and emotive in the pipeline?

perhaps a blank space is a fitting metaphor for the new homogenous spinningfields, filled with international banks and worldwide brands however luxury, an identikit outdoor mall that could be anywhere  – to this old cynic it certainly speaks volumes....

Manchester House, RIP, 2010

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the big experiment - the rise and fall of modernist housing

what factors make the barbican a signifier of urban sophistication but fort ardwick a bye-word for disaster? in Manchester the debate is still dominated by the spectral presence of the Hulme Crescents, fort ardwick and beswick, but this month we take a closer look at sheffield's park hill and compare its changing fortunes with a couple of less well known examples back here in our own city. what heady alchemy between design and planning, quality of building materials, local amenities and community involvement is required for housing to become home?

 Kennet House, RIP, 1978

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Here comes summer - august bank holiday special!

yes, its the summmer and we are feeling just too lazy to sit in the library looking up obscure details about the modernist built environment...

what would the mms have been doing in the modernist city during those legendary long hot summers of the 1960's & 70's. well if we werent at belle vue zoo its quite likely we would have been at an outdoor lido or paddling pool. failing that we might have taken to the boating lake and gone for a bit of  a row amongst the swans and the ducks.

now long gone, here's a short photo homage to the great local park. what fun they were.....

chorlton park paddling pool 1960

heaton park boating lake early 60's

wythenshawe paddling pool

splashing about at the park, RIP!

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for july we are highlighting the battles facing those much maligned monuments from the post war period, an era beseiged by a pincer movement of bulldozers, public indifference and an often outright aggressive press, with the story of three locals battling the forces of antipathy.... 

Gilbert Scott & his K Series, RIP, 1980's

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Mash & Air 40 Chorlton St,

POD, Marc Newson and Harrison Ince , 1996 - 2000.

Much to opening fanfare at the tail end of 1996 , Oliver Peyton 's Manchester venture is the corner of Canal st and chorlton Derwent Against the City 's Prevailing Aesthetics of bare girders and industrial chic. INSTEAD the owner of London 's feted Atlantic Bar and Grill and Coast opted for cool Swinging Sixties London with brash orange and lime tones , Circle & porthole reasons . viewed: Either at the time as a refreshing change to What Was Already Becoming a Mancunian cliche , or the ill regarded pretension of a pushy outsider , we pay homage to a long overdue slice of a Short Lived streamlined computer -generated futurism ; nineties chic with joe a hint of 1930 's ocean liner .

peyton Took the restaurant scene by storm in 1994 When He Opened the Atlantic Bar & Grill in London in 1994 and in Mayfair Coast in 1995 . Mash and Air in Manchester Opened in 1996 , Followed by a London Mash Isola in 1998 and in Knightsbridge in 1999. His vibrant 170- seat Atlantic Bar & Grill Was year overnight success with STI art deco makeover , downstairs ballroom and modern British menu, and it Launched the concept of the style bar. ADOPTED Coast meanwhile has more feminine , style and maritime ET Quickly Became Known 've Loved Much For architectural and design savvy 've Loved for catering .

a warehouse conversion at the height of 90's ' gaychester ' right in the Heart of the Village , Mash & Air in Manchester Was Entirely different year to the animals Already Thriving local scene . it one step Derwent Than the Rest , Offering Simply not a bar with dining Tacked drank a ' oven eating and drinking experience level . " Commissioned Peyton Harrison Ince ( Whose portfolio includes Mick Hucknall 's boat and a local chain tampopo ) to work alongside furniture and interior designer Marc Newson and Andrew Martin realized Loved to futuristic ambitions . Designed around a microbrewery , Which pink -through the full height of the building , visible from Portcullis Every level through ITS 's and jaunty porthole , the new design Simply No Paid to heed ITS historic fabric . THE LOWEST level Was a bar , with Two Separate restaurants, Including Mash brewery for casual dining, and a private dining room . Air is situated " Was The Highest level - a ' dining delight ' with sunken booths and panoramic vistas over Manchester ...

By The Turn of the Century all one aim of trail - blazing Loved Opening of the '90s HAD closed . Mash and Air hatches battened down for good STI in 2000 and Still boarded up and empty lies today, barely Remembered It Seems , for all the Hullabaloo in ITS heyday .

here's What They Said in the independent soon after ITS grand opening -

Caroline Stacey

Saturday, 11 January 1997

Just before Christmas , Oliver Peyton , owner of Two London SUCH gaffe - the Atlantic Bar and Grill and Coast - Opened Mash & Air in Manchester. Launches like this do not Happen Every month , OR Events year , here , has yet week after the opening junket, the number of Customers Was Surprisingly sparse . Maybe are harder to impress Mancunian .

After all, There Is civic pride and the tradition of Dissent to Uphold . Though eating and drinking lags well behind , designer bars are Ecu Two year in a city that's Been Transformed by EC Funding . Purpose, barely off the starting block , Mash & Air Quickly impressed me . The design , by Australian Marc Newson , Is in a similar fashion to Sixties - Futurist Coast . And it's beautiful . The wide -windowed Victorian mill, in the middle of the gay quarter , up steps and Entered IS -through glass doors with handles like jumbo orange taps . You arrive in a bar -meets - painted pistachio lime -green ( Even the floor) , and furnished with Duplo for giants .

The name Mash & Air horns from internships in the brewing process , and a central well That Appears To Run From The Top To The Bottom Of The building , visible -through huge porthole , houses painted orange brewing equipment . When it's working, this contemporary looking Brilliantly engine room - a canny tribute to a place That Understands the attraction of manufacturing like no other - Will Own ITS pump out beer . Upstairs , more green and orange Hamid , Is The Mash brewery, with pizzas from a wood - fired oven with a Litany of Scattered Californian ingredients : winter mushroom with honey- roast parsnips , spinach and vegetable chips, for example , and salads and grills.

Air, the restaurant is the top floor , Is All breezy blue, royal and pale . By day, It Was so pure and new light and it appeared Rather ethereal . Any satanic darkness Ever Had the mill has been " air - brushed out Effectively . Mash & Air and panders to a predisposition for designer tags, with nickable " mashtrays " and a Bill That Comes in a blue envelope with "the damage "written on it . Even if it Were not for the food, Mash & Air would Still Be a triumph .

visit for more pictures ince harrison here.

RIP - Mash & Air - 2000

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March - April 2010

Special Odeon

This month in Light of the narrow window of opportunity to put pressure on the planning department to Reconsider Proposed demolition of the Long the Odeon Cinema on Oxford Rd, we are dedicating o March - April Features of the Month to the sorry story of this fine picture palace.

RIP - GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN ~

Back in January 2010 in Our tribute to the city 's Picture Palaces , we have featured the Odeon o At Risk Gem of the Month Little Imagining it Might Reach the critical list in Three short months ! Sadly here we are ....

Nb - The planning permission for the demolition of the Odeon , Oxford Street, Manchester is about to run out . The developer Needs To Reapply . We can all put pressure on the planners to reject this. We Now Have a second chance to stop the demolition .

You Still Have Time to how the application. We all Need to how the application - online or in writing . Clickhereto go to the application . Many thanks !

The Odeon Cinema formerly The Paramount Oxford St ,

F Verity and S. Beverley, 1930 - closed September 2004 .

The Odeon , now lying stripped bare and hollow , Opened with pomp and ceremony Suitable , all complete with fake art deco stylized flattened pilasters and capitals , on Monday 16 October 1930 as the Paramount Theatre, flashy American import to Oxford St.

More Than Other lavish and luxurious Manchester goings, the Paramount soon Became a Mecca for picturegoers , regularly scooping up all the biggest and best new releases, Especially Those From The Paramount studios , and Being the first to offer innovations have SUCH techicolour and wide screen .

By 1940 howeve Paramount HAD sold off Some of Its UK cinemas to the Odeon circuit and so it Suddenly Became the Odeon , = remaining one of the MOST popular city center cinemas well Into the 1960's , Successfully Complementing STI screenings with occasional live concerts , SUCH as the Beach Boys , Until ITS long , slow demise started " in earnest in the seventies . Like Many Other picture houses, This Was That era saw the successive year Attempt to lure audience, seduced Into home entertainment with the introduction of television, Back Into the cinema . IT WAS twinned in 1973 , triplexed in 1979 , with a furnace Further screens created in 1992 . With adaptation EACH There Was a commensurate loss in the original architectural grandeur and intégrité of the design. By the end of Its Life Resulting the seven screens Were No bigger than Many suburban sitting-rooms and the introduction of the mega complex in the Nineties Were The last straw for the old guard . The cinema was closed in September 2004 due to competition from the AMC Great Northern 16 Which HAD nearby Opened in December 2001 .

Long boarded up, its not yet nominally Assignation , goal in reality it 's a dead man walking ...

The Story Does not End There . Earmarked for demolition and redevelopment Into the inevitable office block with ground floor retail bad at having more gold bar / restaurant uses , a campaign to save the Odeon led by the Cinema Theatre Association erlands and Sweden . Finally in a hotly Contested decision , Français Heritage Dismissed "any last minute Attempts to list the building, standing by Their decision Earlier That the building HAD Been Too Badly mutilated in the course of Its Life To merit it .

For the long and Tragic Saga Of The Attempt to save the Odeon from demolition , read over the emotional and informative trail of comments hand below the posting, Taking us from 2004 up to the present sorry state of affairs , yet try "any of Aidan O'Rourke Manchester 's popular forums for the general mood of Manchester 's Citizens , Many of Whom the ACKNOWLEDGE Difficulties and tensions inherent in nostalgia and Marrying cultural inheritance in contemporary With The Needs Of An Ever Changing urban environment .

***Once again MMS IS Indebted to far more voices and narrator on this topic Learned Than Ourselves . We Have FOLLOWING Shamelessly adapted the illuminating source -

Derek J Southall Magic in the Dark, Cinema Treasures informative website, and David Slack 's reminiscences are 70mm.com .

Over on the Flickr words and gorgeous pictures of woody1969 Highly recommended are .

RIP - Odeon Cinema - September 2004

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Covered Parker Street Bus Terminal

Piccadilly Gardens