Quay Street is a street in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England. The street, designated the A34, continues Peter Street westwards towards the

River Irwell The River Irwell ( ) is a tributary of the River Mersey in north-west England. It rises at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup and flows southwards for to meet the Mersey near Irlam Locks. The Irwell marks the bound ...

and

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

. It is the northern boundary of Spinningfields, the city's business district and

Castlefield Castlefield is an inner-city conservation area in Manchester, North West England. The conservation area which bears its name is bounded by the River Irwell, A34 road, Quay Street, Deansgate and A56 road, Chester Road. It was the site of the Rom ...

, the historical area of the city, lies to the south. Quay Street was created in the 18th century for access to a

quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

on the river and is lined by several

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s. Edward Byrom built a quay on the River Irwell in the 1730s and the street was built to link it to

Deansgate Deansgate is a main road (part of the A56) through Manchester City Centre, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mil ...

which was then known as Aldport Lane. In 1794 it was extended eastwards to

Mosley Street Mosley Street is a street in Manchester, England. It runs between its junction with Piccadilly Gardens and Market Street to St Peter's Square. Beyond St Peter's Square it becomes Lower Mosley Street. It is the location of several Grade II and ...

. 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 Harry Stokes (c. 1799 – 15 October 1859) was a master bricklayer, beerhouse manager and special constable in Manchester. Assigned female gender at birth but lived as a man. Harry had two long-term relationships with women, each lasting over 20 ...

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 high-rise

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

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 ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

. The building was designed by architect

Ralph Tubbs Ralph Sydney Tubbs OBE FRIBA (9 January 1912 – 24 November 1996) was a British architect. Well known amongst the buildings he designed was the Dome of Discovery at the successful Festival of Britain on the South Bank in London in 1951. Bac ...

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.

References

External links

Manchester Directory
{{Manchester A&S Streets in Manchester Shopping streets in Manchester Tourist attractions in Manchester

See also

References

External links