Joshua Hoyle building, 2016 |
It was after all close to the College of Knowledge where I spent three years and was one of the buildings you saw as you came down the long stretch from Piccadilly Railway Station to the lights.
I think it was still inhabited in the late 1960s although it looked pretty grimy and unloved.
But once upon a time it was the show warehouse and offices of Joshua Hoyle, cotton spinners.
Poster, 1920 |
For a long time the building lay empty and neglected but is now a hotel which Andy Robertson photographed on a fine May day.
And it points to that simple observation that you don't have to tear down every old building just because it is no longer in use for the purpose it was designed for.
That said there are plenty of conversions which have made a dog's dinner of the original building, and I have yet to go inside the place.
But it looks heaps better than it did and that is enough for me.
Entrance, 2016 |
Location, 50 Piccadilly, Manchester
Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson 2016 and poster 1920 courtesy of Graces Guide to British Industrial History
*Graces Guide to British Industrial History, http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Joshua_Hoyle_and_Sons
This building was taken over by Sparrow Hardwick a textile merchant who sold under the name Sparva
ReplyDeleteI printed labels and swing tickets for them in the 60/70s they had their own in house printers across the road in Auburn Street
I used to go in via the loading bay at the rear of the building
Every floor was full of textiles
Was this where the doll's hospital was too?
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