Manchester Central Library and Town Hall Extension, St Peter's Square

8 October 2019 · Manchester

Two architectural eras share the same block of St Peter's Square without conceding anything to each other. The neoclassical drum of Manchester Central Library curves away to the left, its Corinthian columns in pale Portland stone; the Gothic Revival buttress of the Town Hall Extension rises hard against it, sandstone and angular, catching the late light on its face. Pedestrians cross the open plaza below both, indifferent to the argument above them. Deep blue sky, no cloud — the kind of afternoon that makes civic architecture look exactly as serious as it intended to be.