Those Towers in Didsbury ...............

Now I am back with the Towers on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury.*

For most of the last century it was called the Shirley Institute and it is a building with a lot of history.

It was built between 1868 and 1872 by John Taylor who founded the Manchester Guardian in 1821.

Here in 1882 the decision was taken by a group of businessmen to build the Manchester Ship Canal and in 1920 it was bought by the British Cotton Industry Research Association and renamed the Shirley Institute after the daughter of one the main contributors to the cost of buying it.

Now I have always wanted to get into the Towers but have always missed the open days.

So I was pleased when Barbarella sent over a collection of her recent pictures of the place.

And as ever in old buildings it is the detail that fascinates me.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; The Towers, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento


*A building called the Towers, the Ship Canal and a certain animation company, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-building-called-towers-ship-canal-and.html