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The architecture of Manchester demonstrates a rich variety of architectural styles. The city is a product of the Industrial Revolution and is known as the first modern, industrial city. Manchester is noted for its warehouses, railway viaducts, cotton mills and canals - remnants of its past when the city produced and traded goods. Manchester has minimal Georgian or medieval architecture to speak of and consequently has a vast array of 19th and early 20th-century architecture styles; examples include Palazzo, Neo-Gothic, Venetian Gothic, Edwardian baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and the Neo-Classical. Manchester burgeoned as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the Bridgewater Canal and Manchester Liverpool Road station became the first true canal and railway station used to transport goods. The Industrial Revolution made Manchester a wealthy place but much of the wealth was spent on lavish projects that were often at the expense of its population. Engineering developments such as the Manchester Ship Canal symbolised a wealthy and proud Manchester, so too did Mancunian buildings of the Victorian era, the finest examples of which include the neo-gothic town hall and the John Rylands Library. At the height of the Industrial Revolution, the city had nearly 2,000 warehouses. Many of them have now been converted for other uses but their external appearance remains mostly unchanged so the city keeps much of its industrial, brooding character. The 1996 IRA bombing sparked a large regeneration project with new buildings such as Urbis forming a centrepiece of the redevelopment. Over the last few years there has been a renewed interest in building skyscrapers in Manchester with Manchester City Council signalling it would be sympathetic towards 'iconic' skyscrapers that reflect the historic non-comformist attitude and uniqueness of the city. The Beetham Tower was completed in the autumn 2006 and is the tallest building in the UK outside London. City centre regeneration coincided with the property boom of the 2000s with one urbanist remarking on ''"the sheer number of cranes and the noise of the building work, with the sound of pneumatic drills in my ears wherever I went"''. Manchester was granted city status in 1853 due to its rapid development and was the first to be granted such status since Bristol in 1542. Manchester was on a provisional list for UNESCO World Heritage site status emphasising the city's role in the Industrial Revolution and its extensive canal network. Castlefield, west of the city centre is Britain's only Urban Heritage Park that aims to preserve the character and history of the area. ==History== The Roman fort, Mamucium, on the sandstone bluff at the junction of the Rivers Irwell and Medlock gave Castlefield its name. The fort's remains including a short, seven feet high section of wall are protected as a scheduled monument. The Romans left Mamucium in 410 AD and the settlement was subsequently occupied by Saxons who renamed it ''Manigcastre''. It was taken by the Danes in 870 AD, the significance of which is seen in the street patterns and names. The ''gate'' suffix in Deansgate and Millgate derives from the Old Norse ''gata'' meaning road. In the tenth century the cliff at the junction of the Irwell and the Irk became the preferred site when a church dedicated to St Mary was built at St Mary's Gate and the Danish town grew around it. The settlement was important enough to be given the right to strike coinage by King Canute. There has been a church on the site of the cathedral since 1215. Another medieval survival is the Hanging Bridge across the filled-in Hanging Ditch, a stream south of the cathedral. All that remains are two sandstone arches now incorporated into the cathedral's visitor centre. When Thomas De la Warre obtained a licence to refound the church as a collegiate parish church, a college of priests was built of red Collyhurst sandstone on the site of his manor house. The college had a large hall, warden's lodgings and rooms for the priests. Two ancient halls survive outside the city centre, Clayton Hall is a rare example of a mediaeval moated site and Baguley Hall is a timber-framed hall from the 14th century. Shambles Square, created after the 1996 bombing with the timber-framed Old Wellington Inn, Sinclair's Oyster Bar and the Mitre Hotel preserves some of the city's oldest buildings of their type. The original site of the Shambles was the location of butchers' shops and abbatoirs. In the 16th century domestic cloth weaving became important, and an Act of Parliament regulated the length of ''Manchester Cottons'' (which were actually woollens) to 22 yards. By 1641 Manchester was producing both cotton and linen cloth. A bequest from wealthy cloth merchant, Humphrey Chetham was responsible for the Chetham's School and Library in the mediaeval collegiate building. St Ann's Church, attributed to Wren or one of his pupils, was built in 1712 in St Ann's Square which became the fashionable area of town. Seven other churches were built during the 18th century, none of which survives. St James Square (1735) was built by the Jacobites. Planned development occurred in the 1750s between Market Street, Cross Street, King Street and Mosley Street. Relatively few houses in the city centre survive from the Georgian era, one is Richard Cobden's townhouse from the 1770s. Another survival is row of three-storey town houses built in red brick with sandstone dressings, now used as shops and offices in Princess Street. Terraced houses were built on Byrom Street and Quay Street for the middle classes at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries but few dwellings for the working classes survive except for a few north of Piccadilly Gardens and in Castlefield. Houses built for artisans and skilled workers had attic workshops housing handlooms for weaving. Other city-centre dwellings had cellars and attics but none survive. File:Manchester Cathedral.JPG|Manchester Cathedral File:Hanging Bridge 1892.jpg|The mediaeval Hanging Bridge excavated in Victorian times. File:Baronial Hall Chetham's.jpg|Chetham's School and Library dates from the mediaeval era. File:Shambles Square.jpg|Shambles Square as rebuilt File:St Ann's Church, Manchester.jpg|St Ann's Church dates from 1712. File:Former County Court, Quay Street, Manchester 3.JPG|County Court was built in 1770. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Architecture of Manchester」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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