One car, one camera, and three pictures of the changing landscape.

Now the trip in along Chester Road into town continues to be one dominated by new build, most of which is unremarkable and pretty standard.

And then just after passing St George’s the skyline id dominated by those new towers which rise from the ground, almost as if they had been planned to keep the Beetham Tower company.

What is all the remarkable, is that just three years ago only the Beetham scraped the sky, and that transformation has been recorded by Andy Robertson, almost level by level as the towers moved upwards.

Nor has he been alone, because Cathy Robertson regularly also chronicles their development.

And earlier in the week she took four pictures in quick succession, as if to re emphasis the size of the buildings.





Location; coming into Manchester

Pictures; three pictures of the new towers, 2019, from the collection of Cathy Robertson

The moment Manchester became New York

Historians will look back on the rapid transformation of the city’s skyline and debate the point when those towers started to change forever the character of Manchester.

The date it all began is also open for argument with some going for when Sunlight House was built, with others offering up the CIS building, and much later the Beetham Tower.

Of course the early 20th century saw the Refuge Building and before that the steady expansion of the Royal Exchange and earlier the new Town Hall.

But as big and magnificent as all these were, they were still on a human scale which can’t be said of those towers which dominate the skyline and can be seen miles away.

And I think Cathy Robertson has caught their overbearing presence.

Location; driving into Manchester

Picture; driving into Manchester, 2019, from the collection of driving into Manchester, from the collection of Cathy Robertson

Where ever I look ….. there are those towers

I am returning to those towers which pretty much dominate the city skyline where ever you are.

It has become a regular feature of Andy’s pictures, as well as the blog.

This one was taken from the Rochdale Canal earlier in the week, and will add to the collection which show the transformation of the city's skyline.

Location; the Rochdale Canal

Picture; along the Rochdale Canal, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The rise and rise of Owen Street

Now, there cannot be many places in the city where the skyline is not dominated by the rise of the Owen Street towers.

Opinion remains divided on their aesthetic appearance, and just what they contribute, but dominate they do.

Andy Robertson has been recording their progress from the beginning.

At which point I could reflect on the economics of the towers, but I will leave that to others.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Manchester,2019,  from the collection of Andy Robertson

Changing the landscape for ever

I like these two pictures by Andy Robertson, which in their different ways record the progress of those giant towers.

The first captures the sheer scale of them, while in the second there is a brooding sense about the towers, taken as the light was fading.

Location; Manchester





Pictures. the tower developments, Manchester, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson 

“A clutter of towers” ……………. Andy Robertson

Landscapes change.

And I have no doubt, that as those late Victorian and Edwardian office blocks rose above the streets, there were some who mourned the passing of the elegant 18th century town houses or the wibbly wobbly Medieval and Tudor buildings that preceded the new developments.

Uppermost in their criticisms may well have been the way that the new build was taller, brasher and out of keeping with what had gone before.

So, nothing new then.

But having offered up that caveat to balanced comments, I have to say that the new towers that are springing up are something different, altering forever the skyline and introducing into the city a type of architecture which has no regard for where human beings fit into the picture.

The present ones soon to be completed are so tall that they are monstrously ugly and contradict the idea that buildings should be in harmony with their surrounding and not make us feel insignificant.

But that is what we have, …….. towers that can be seen miles away, glimpsed through gaps in suburban houses from Chorlton, to Burnage, like some latter-day mountain range.

Now, I fully appreciate that the forest of cranes, and the ever-increasing number of developments are an indication that the City is doing well, but I don’t like them.

Location; Manchester

Picture; “A clutter of towers”, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Almost the end of the story ……….. pictures from Owen Street

Now the Owen Street development, those tall towers on the edge of the city centre is moving slowly to its conclusion.

And so, has Andy Robertson’s project to record each stage of the construction of the towers.

I must admit that I didn’t fully comprehend the scale of that development or Andy’s tenacity in recording the progress of the build.

But now we have a comprehensive chronicle of everything starting from when the builders first broke ground to this image taken yesterday.

And what was two is now four.

Like the Beetham Tower and more developments to follow the Owen Street two generated a considerable amount of discussion, and in between those who admire them as examples of the future there are set those who see them as a build too far.

I tend to slide into the second camp, seeing them not as a development to be applauded but rather a project which does nothing for the city.

And I base that, not on economic considerations or safety ones but purely because they are too big.

They soar into the sky and dwarf all of us that pass by, and for me a building that reduces human beings to ants is not good design.

Urban living offers a lot and that is why the Ancients gravitated to cities, but as magnificent as their buildings were, they had a unity with their citizens, who might marvel at their construction, feel impressed at their sheer size and grandeur, but never felt insignificant in their shadow.

I am not sure that can be said of the Owen Towers.

We shall see.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Owen Street development, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson 

Up the Junction with those brooding Owen Street Towers

Now yesterday Andy took himself off to photograph the Grand Junction which has always caught my interest but a pub I never visited.

Those two towers

There was no reason for my failure to call in other than that I lived in Chorlton and never quite got round to breaking my journey and getting off the bus that was taking me to town.

Recently I decided I should give the place a go only to find it had closed.

But more on the Junction later, for now it’s those two tower blocks on Owen Street that have got into the story.

2015

After all you can’t miss them, and even more than the Beetham Tower they seem to be the buildings you can see from so many different parts of south Manchester.

All of which is how they got here, but now that is dealt with, on to the Grand Junction which my copy of The Old Pubs of Hulme Manchester, informs me was first licensed in 1846, although it was intended as a pub the year before.*

In 1969 it lost its third floor and is now closed.

2018

Location; Hulme




Pictures; the Grand Junction 2015 and 2018, and those towers, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

* Potts Bob, The Old Pubs of Hulme Manchester, 1983

Of towers that rise to the sky ....... the new Manchester

The development down at Owen Street has fascinated Andy Robertson ever since the builders broke the ground and began the construction of the two towers.

At the time I had not fully appreciated the scope of what was going to happen, but over the last few years Andy’s pictures and comments have put me right and together the images will be a fascinating record of one of the new generation of property developments.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Owen Street, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Pictures that capture the moment........

A short series from the camera of Andrew Robertson, which record the surge of new developments across the city.

Of course similar projects are altering the skyline of cities from Salford to Leeds, and on to Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast, but these two  are our city.

Location; Manchester



Picture; the Owen Street development, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

The new Manchester......... Owen Street..... scenes from a development

Now, there can’t be that many places across the city which don’t offer up a glimpse of the Owen Street Towers.*

Andy has been recording their rise from the very humble beginnings to the Leviathan’s that they are now.

And I caught a glimpse of them from Mauldeth Road West in Chorlton.

But Andy decided yesterday to get up close, and despite the fierce showers he got his images.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Owen Street, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Pictures from Owen Street, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Pictures%20from%20Owen%20Street

The New Our Times .......... the changed skyline

Now, it is pretty much a given that where ever you look, the new towers of Owen Street and the Beetham Tower rise to dominate the skyline.

This, Andy Robertson on his latest adventure from Pomona to Cornbrook was quick to point out.

Nothing more to say.

Location; Pomona


Pictures; Looking toward the City, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

“Just spotted the third of the two towers” ........ stories of more development

“Just spotted the third of the two towers ( I know this is neither mathematically nor grammatically correct) but this is how it will be described henceforward......and after that the fourth of the two towers”....... Andy Robertson June 2018

And so begins another series of pictures and stories to accompany the rise of yet another tall residential block, which will no doubt come to match the existing two which are fast reaching into the sky and their completion date.

Those two are the Owen Street towers and I have written about the extensively since Andy first started sending over the pictures.

Future historians will have a lot to thank Andy for, because for a decade and a bit he has been recording the changing sky line of the Twin Cities of Manchester and Salford.

Unlike some photographers who take the carefully posed shot and move on Andy returns regularly to the same developments chronicling each stage from demolition to new build and on to the final completion.

And he has a knack of finding those properties which are doomed to vanish.

That said he is a accomplished photographer and many of his pictures would stand out just for their artistic merit let along their place in our history.

So this will only be the beginning of the “third of two”.

Location; beside the Owen Street Development,

Picture; the “third of two”, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Owen Street ....... scenes from a development, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-new-manchester-owen-street-scenes.html

The onward march of the new urban living ....... Owen Street and Woden Street

Earlier this week Andy Robertson was out recording the progress of two of his favourite developments.

The Owen Street two continue to rise into the sky and are pretty much visible across the south of the city.

By contrast Woden Street down by the Canal will be a more modest affair, but it too moves forward effortless..

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Owen Street and Woden Street, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The new Manchester ....... Owen Street ....... scenes from a development no. 10

Now as the Owen Street development continues to rise to the skies, it dominates pretty much everywhere you look.

So when Andy decided to take a walk from Deansgate to Cornbrook, he couldn't resist looking back towards the City and took this photograph.

Andy as everyone knows has been photographing the changing landscape of the Twin Cities and out across Greater Manchester for a decade and a bit.

As his collection grows so does a unique record of the changes that have and are occurring.

Already some of those collections are a fascinating history.

In the case of Owen Street he has followed the story from a hole in the ground, and in the process of its development the two tower blocks are edging their way to rival  the Beetham Tower.

Nothing more to say, except keep bringing on the pictures, Andy

Pictures; the Owen Street development, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The new Manchester ....... Owen Street ....... scenes from a development no. 9

It would be cheap journalism to adapt that phrase about waiting for a bus and then two come along at the same time.

But there does seem a bit of that today with these photographs of the Owen Street development.

As many know, Andy has been recording the build since the very beginning and his collection has become an impressive chronicle of the development.

And now where ever you go they follow you.

So when Andy was wandering the borders of Hulme he couldn’t resist taking our first image which offers up both towers, along with the Beetham in the middle and another development off to the east.

Not content, and I suspect unintended he also caught them again in this picture of the old Board School which will be story for another day.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; the Owen Street development, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The new Manchester ....... Owen Street ....... scenes from a development no.8

Now the onward rise to the sky of the Owen Street development continues apace.

Soon, if not already they will be visible from vantage points across Greater Manchester.

But for now Andy, contented himself with a picture from Alexandra Park.

Location; Manchester, 2018

Picture; looking out from Alexandra Park at the Owen Street development, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The new Manchester ....... Owen Street ....... scenes from a development no.7

Andy described this as one of his favourite pictures, and I do have to agree.

I am not sure what I think of the Owen Street development in the distance, which is coming to dominate the sky line.

I have nothing against modern buildings and new developments but for me the line is simply that, when the structures dwarf human beings it may be a build too far.

That said Andy has caught the growing dominance of those rising towers.

Location; Manchester, 2018

Picture; St Peter’s Square, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The new Manchester ........ Owen Street ....scenes from a development no.6

Now it used to be said that the Beetham Tower could be seen from almost anywhere in Greater Manchester, and I rather think the same will be said of the towers down at Owen Street.

Andy Robertson has been recording their story from the very beginning, and at first I didn’t appreciate just how high they were going to be.

So I am very pleased that Andy did and has been building up a unique record of one city centre development.

This one taken on Chester Road, yesterday afternoon is one I particularly like.

And that is all I am going to say.

Location; looking into the city

Picture; the Owen Street development, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Deansgate at Dusk ....... a sky line forever altered

Now I am not a Luddite, nor do I have a thing against modern buildings, but there remains a simple observation that when a building makes you feel insignificant then there is something wrong with its design.

The great vaunting spires of Medieval cathedrals may have soared upwards but there was a limit to how far they could go, and that limit suited most of us.

Tall enough to make a statement about the building and its relationship to God but never too huge that you forgot this was a structure which was meant to be comfortable to look at and be part of.

All of which brings me to those two new towers at the end of Deansgate and a feeling that they add nothing to the landscape.

But that is just my opinion.  In the fullness of time I will ask Andy Robertson who has been recording the onward rise of the two since the ground was broken and building began.

Location Manchester

Pictures; Deansgate at Dusk ....... a sky line forever altered, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson