#manchester — Modernist Delights

Stretford Mall, Manchester, 2025

A view through a dark underpass opens onto a fenced industrial area with yellow-brick buildings, various warning signs, bollards, a yellow grit bin, and a beige shipping container. The scene is empty, with overcast sky and muted colours.

A yellow-brick building with a concrete and metal staircase leading to the upper floor. Black doors and vents line the ground floor, and a small framed sign sits near the stairs. The scene looks urban and slightly worn, under a cloudy sky.

A yellow brick wall with a rusty metal door, a blue sign, barred vents, and a large white air conditioning unit mounted above. To the right, a red skip sits beneath a small barred window. The area is unused, with some peeling paint and overgrown weeds.

Gorse Hill Park entrance gates, Manchester, 2025

Black metal gates with a sunburst design and star accents mark the entrance to Gorse Hill Park. “Gorse Hill Park” is displayed vertically on stone pillars on each side. Trees and a paved path are visible beyond the gates.

Oakland House, Manchester, 2025

A close-up view of a modern building’s façade, showing multiple rows of rectangular windows set in dark frames. The walls between the windows are made of brown brick, creating a striped pattern with the alternating glass panes.

A tall, multi-storey office building with rows of large windows. The top of the building has the sign OAKLAND HOUSE. Trees and a streetlamp are visible in the foreground, and the sky behind is overcast.

A large, multi-storey office building with many rows of windows and a brick façade, viewed from a low angle. Trees with green leaves are in the foreground, and the sky above is overcast and grey.

Not, as Siri helpfully suggested, the Stockport Viaduct.

Trio of garages, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, 2025

A building with three large metal roller doors—grey, green, and brown—set in a weathered façade. Brick walls frame the sides, and a wet street is in front. The sky is clear, and two small “No Parking” signs are visible on either side of the green door.

Spiral staircase at Manchester Victoria railway station, 2025

A green metal spiral staircase with mesh railings stands outdoors, sheltered partially by round roofs. It is attached to a modern building, next to a fence and construction barriers, with a cloudy sky and city buildings in the background.

Chorlton Street Car Park, Manchester, 2025

A multistorey car park above a gay pub. There are 4 storeys at the front, with a ramp up to 3 storeys at the back. There's a spiral entrance ramp mostly out of shot to the left. The columns are NCP yellow.

Buoyed by the consulate renewing my passport in 5 minutes flat, and with the sun out, I set off to take some photos today… until the heavens opened 😣

Moody Rochdale Canal, Manchester, 2025

Not modernist, but I have a sweet spot for canals.

Retro signage beneath a fragile roof, Ancoats, Manchester, 2025

A faded painted sign on a red brick wall reads Entwistle & Pearson Plywood Supplies beside a silhouette of a worker carrying wood. Nearby are warning signs, a street sign for Naval St, and a blue metal container with plants growing behind it.

Retro signage in Ancoats, Manchester, 2025

An old brick building with multiple barred windows. Faded sign reads “CHELSEA FASHIONS,” mentioning manufacturers, exporters, and ladies’ and children’s wear. Smaller sign for SAM Knitwear Ltd. visible, with Henry St. street sign on left.

Sun-dappled car fortress in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, 2025

A red brick multi-storey car park stands on a street corner under a clear blue sky. Several yellow P parking signs are mounted on the building. A person walks past the entrance, and sunlight casts strong shadows on the walls.

A brick building with three floors, each featuring rectangular, open window spaces without glass. The lower level has barred windows and graffiti on the right. The façade is sunlit with shadows, and the roof has black lamps. Sky above is clear and blue.

This doesn’t qualify as modernist, or even really as a delight, but it made me laugh how something so thoroughly modern and utilitarian masquerades itself amongst the Northern Quarter’s Victorian mills and factories with the use of red brick. A concept long forgotten in Manchester’s development-mania, of course, with everything now built out of steel, concrete, glass, and cladding.