Manchester before and after (and after) - 'Then and now' cross-fading images of MCR UK architecture
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- čas přidán 10. 03. 2021
- +++ In May 2021 AVZINE was rebranded to AidanEyewitness +++
This video presentation consists of photographs selected the photo archive of Aidan O'Rourke from 1996 to 2021 comparing a variety of locations before and after new construction took place. Some are revisited after further changes. I am recycling images from my old Eyewitness in Manchester website (1998-2005) into my new AVZINE CZcams channel (launched 2020). With commentary, some tongue-in-cheek plus extra images. All Manchester watchers, architecture fans and city observers need to watch this video! For the benefit of learners, people with a disability and everyone else, text is placed on screen in and next to the images. THE GERMAN SUBTITLES ARE IN PREPARATION!
Please like, subscribe! You are invited to give your own opinion in the comments. All photographs by Aidan O'Rourke - There are no public domain images in this video. Music by Kai Engel and Colors of Illusion from the CZcams Audio Library.
This is one of my early videos, posted in 2021, before I had switched to the much better name AidanEyewitness. Since then, I produce the videos only in English, but I set up a new channel for languages in September 2023, @XLRLanguages. Many thanks for your positive comments!
Overall these developments have improved Manchester as it is now a more desirable place to live than ever before. However it is a crying shame that we have lost some beautiful architecture in return for these new glass blocks
Yes, I agree 100%, very well said. In a future AidanEyewitness video, I intend to highlight the buildings that have been lost and how they would look if they were still there today. Many thanks for your comment!
Lovely to see all the old buildings. Amazing how things not only don't improve, but get worse.
Yes, unfortunately local councils often make a complete mess of redevelopment, for instance Piccadilly Gardens. There is often pressure to demolish characterful older buildings and replace with characterless new, but it's not just in Manchester and Liverpool. In New York, the historic Pennsylvania Hotel is about to be demolished. Sadly it had been neglected and undervalued for many years. Many thanks for commenting!
Clearly not true. Manchester was a wreck in the second half of the 20c. The buildings were cheap and ugly. The beautiful buildings of the 19c were neglected. Most of the 21c buildings are much better than the 20c buildings and are more sympathetic to their context.
Fascinating and well observed film. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comment, very much appreciated!
So glad this channel exists. I do get sad seeing what was lost, but this gives me hope.
Well I've been interested in architecture and cities since I was a child, so my channel just reflects my interests. Many thanks for your kind words!
Great video thanks
Many thanks - this is one of my older ones, glad to see people are still watching it.
Personally I've no interest in the Hacienda or the sort of music played there but even so I'm surprised it wasn't saved.
Nice video, you've clearly been photographing Manchester for quite a while!
What a great comment! Yes it should not have been demolished, even if Tony Wilson said ‘Tear it down’. It wasn’t the home if some dictator or serial killer, it was one if the most famous and significant night clubs in the world, a piece of Manchester’s cultural history, a selfie opportunity for tourists and also an attractive building. I started photographing and writing about the development of Manchester in 1996, and also have a few photos from before that time. Many thanks!
Hmm... When I moved into the city, I wish I explored it more, taken more photos around the city. Never thought everything would change come 1996.
I've tried to document it since 1996 when I arrived back from abraod, but it's too much for one person. I try to capture a representative sample.
That was really good that
Thanks!
I love this Aidan many thanks
Many thanks for the positive feedback and thanks for subscribing.
Very nice video, it's incredible to see how streets change, and your recreation of old shots was perfect; subscribed :)
Many thanks for the positive comments. I really must do a follow up, I have lots more photographs of scenes that have changed.
I’m so glad to be seeing Manchester receive so much regeneration. But the demolition of Hacienda to build more apartments seemed criminal and an eradication of culture.
Yes, I know how you feel. Visitors who are interested in music come to Manchester and want to see the legendary night club but there's nothing for them to see, it's gone. But for developers, there's a dilemma. To make the most money out of a site they have to build upwards. Countryside Properties were the developer, the old building was only a few storeys high, so they decided just to get rid of it and build a new one that acknowledged the old one, with its curved facade, designed by Roger Stephenson Architects. Actually a well-designed building but it can never replace the original, which was an even nicer building. In another city, they might have saved the Hacienda, not in Manchester. Many thanks for your comment. :)
Twisted wheel too?
Loved that video. Very well done. It's fascinating and horrifying how cities change. It's great to see the foresight you had in documenting things with your photography. Very sad to see the destruction of such beautiful buildings but also good to see old buildings being cleaned and restored. I think they made the right choice moving the shambles and cenotaph if it means they are being saved from destruction. I like to see new buildings being built but not at the expense of beautiful old ones. Really looking forward to seeing Manchester in person. Like seeing the German subtitles since Ich will Deutsch lernen.
Thanks again, it gives me great encouragement to get positive feedback. I am still in the early stages of building my CZcams channel but appreciative comments give me the determination to keep at it. I feel strongly about languages, especially German, and so every video has German subtitles and some - like the Piccadilly video - are in both English and German versions.
This is how I feel generally. It particularly hurts to see what was lost in the 50s to 70s. Why can't more pubs and old buildings be moved and reused. I can't believe those old buildings were replaced that hotel.
I haven’t been able to go in the Old Wellington again. I tried once after the move but everything inside looked brand new.
Great work Aidan. Did you take any shots of Ancoat's or the Northern Quarter back in the 90's?
Yes, in the past, I've taken a few of the Northern Quarter - Oldham Street and a few other streets, also Ancoats - St Peters Church, the warehouses. I intend to do another Before and After video in a while. I'll need to take more 'now' photos. Many thanks for the comment!
I think Jutland street is where learned how to do a 'hill start', on some of my driving lessons!
Shame about Century house, & the bland, boring box that replaced it.
If you can do a hill start on Jutland Street you can do a hill start everywhere. Century house was a classy façade. I used to do freelance work in it, so it means something to me. With a different set of people in charge, with different priorities, it would have been kept.
Love Manchester's skyscrapers but also hate the historic buildings that may have been lost as a result. I grew up in Denton to the east of Manchester and remember a car spares shop maybe near Debdale Park / Reddish / Hyde Road, with half a mini car attached to the first floor elevation, have I dreamt that or was it real! Love to see a photo of that again.
It could well have been real, though I don't have any recollection of that. I'm sure there must be photographs of it around. I'll keep an eye out!
I lived near Debdale park recall seeing the mini too 👍
Very nice video. What is the name of this jazz music?
I've put the names of the tracks and artists in the description at the bottom. I think they are great. They are all from the CZcams Audio Library, they are not just background music but great pieces of music in their own right.
I was born in Manchester in the 1950's I left the area for many years during my working life. I recently came back for family reasons and now live 10 miles out from the city centre. The Manchester town centre I remember as a young man was a grim dirty depressing industrial relic of a city and now in 2022 it looks fantastic.
As a child I seem to remember Manchester city centre as an exciting place with great shops, grand buildings as well as some exciting new ones and a unique atmosphere. Sometimes people have a romanticised view of the past, others have a very negative view. I think reality is somewhere in between. However there's no doubt that Manchester looks cleaner and more modern than then. But that's true of most cities. Thanks for commenting.
@@AidanEyewitness Good point and yes some parts were very nice I recall the Deansgate John Dalton St area always looked very smart.
@@TheLucreziia And Piccadilly Gardens were wonderful. I remember going there as a child at Christmas. Market Street was very nice, long before pedestrianisation, with interesting facades and nice shops on both sides. But then came the Arndale Centre...
Modern buildings are sad replacements for the former buildings were originally there in the first place.
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Manchester sold it's soul to Mammon years ago
If you mean that Manchester has prioritised material wealth, that's certainly true but it was also true in the early days of the Industrial Revolution when unscrupulous factory owners came to Manchester to make their fortune. Later in the century, the more enlightened merchants gave something back to the city, such as John Rylands and Henry Simon. Many thanks for your comment!
We used to ride up and down Jutland Street on our bike and skates back in the early 80s, great fun but hard work getting back up, hope they keep the cobbles. Love your videos, brings back so many memories.
The glass link building on Library Walk has definitely ruined it, it’s just seems a waste to me and to demolish Elizabeth House is criminal, too many of our classic buildings have been demolished. I do like some of the new buildings but some are just “ progress for progress sake”
Elisabeth House is the modern building on the far right. Century House was the neo-classical white 1931 building. Both were demolished but of the two, Century House was the one that could have been saved. I agree, some modern buildings are good, not many. As for Jutland St, I used to drive down it with children in the back and there would be a loud ‘wheee!’ Good braking required at the bottom and a sturdy suspension! Many thanks for your comment!
@@AidanEyewitness Yes, it was Century house I meant, lack of sleep 🤣 Jutland Street was a regular shirt cut for my Dad when I was a toddler, I lived on Bradford Road, Miles Platting until I was 5/6 then the council demolished 100s of terraced houses. Found out a couple of years ago a possible reason why, don’t know if you watch Martin Zero, he made a series of videos on the River Medlock and he was talking about the stretch that runs between Philips Park and the Cemetery. Apparently the old Bradford Colliery closed due to losing money each month after having to pay the council for causing subsidence to nearby houses, Bradford Road being on the front line
@@bcegerton Yes I watch Martin Zero very interesting. That’s interesting about subsidence from Bradford Colliery. A small piece of subsidence caused the sinkhole on Jutland St but not mining-related, probably a water leak. Those setts will have to be put back. Hope they remain in place.
Unfortunately the decision is not ours but the City Council who over ride sensible objections. Shame on them for making so many mistakes
Yes, you are absolutely right. People can decide for themselves whether a decision is right or not, but the decision is made and carried out by Manchester City Council, which has deep-rooted flaws that are not generally recognised or acknowledged.
Sadly almost every Manchester’s historical heritage buildings being replaced by Lego buildings.
Unfortunately that is true to a large extent. People need to take more interest in the city and the buildings around them. I want to encourage them to do this. Many thanks for your comment!
Glad i stumbled upon this channel....Hmmm a lot to say but its Sunday i need to calm down ..... 🦆
Take your time!
So many beautiful buildings have gone from my old Manchester,how very sad.Why wont these arrogant
Architects, ever learn and listen to common sence
Hi Biden we left Manchester in 1971 and I would love if u would do a walk around upper brook Street and Plymouth Grove hadersage Road Eston street Elizabeth gaskell college Manchester garages and my daughter was born in the new hospital along hadersage Road I would really appreciate it aiden
I think you meant Aidan! There's going to be some major construction work going on along Upper Brook Street and there are some historic places like the Victoria Baths and Mrs Gaskell's house. It's very different to how it was in 1971! Many thanks!
Manchester looks so much better today in my opinion. Ther have been some mistakes made though.
Sorry I missed your reply before. Yes, I would agreet 100%. Manchester looks better and I would say most cities look better. 30 years ago cities were not as well presented as today, though some parts of Manchester and Salford haven't changed much. Yes, there have been mistakes - buildings that have been demolished, that shouldn't have been - like the Hacienda building. Many thanks for your comment.
Ancoats has changed a lot
Yes, it certainly has. I am already planning Manchester Before and After Volume 2 and I'll feature the Northern Quarter and Ancoats. Many thanks for your comment!
I did have few pic before and after I'll have to find them
9:18: “the tallest building in Manchester for over 40 years, the Beetham Tower”. Wasn’t that built in 2006? What do you mean, 40 years?
Yes, valid point, the sentence is not clear. What I meant to say was that the Beetham Tower was the tallest building to appear in Manchester since the CIS tower was completed in 1962. The Beetham Tower overtook the CIS tower during 2006. The Beetham Tower was completed in 2007. So the CIS was the tallest building in Manchester between 1962 and 2006, a period of 44 years. Now the south tower of Deansgate Gardens is the tallest, but not for long. Many thanks indeed for pointing that out! :)
@@AidanEyewitness Ah, okay, that makes sense then.
14 yrs would work, 2006 - 20!
This is great for Manchester. Hopefully means united won’t have trouble attracting ppl to Manchester 🥴
I’m sure they won’t. And that reminds me, one of the books I contributed to was ‘Manchester United Then and Now‘. I took the ‘now’ photos back in 2011. www.amazon.co.uk/Manchester-United-Then-Michael-Heatley/dp/1849940339 Many thanks for your comment