Looking west from outside the Palace Theatre & Opera House

“the Cornerhouse itself it ran as a cinema and centre for contemporary arts from 1985 until 2015”

Following on from the previous view we wanted to use another fantastic old photo kindly provided to me by Paul Crompton.

The top photo is from around 1994 and is a view looking west from outside the Palace Theatre & Opera House Manchester on the corner of Oxford Road and Whitworth Street, looking towards Whitworth Street West, the former Cornerhouse cinema (note the films!) and Manchester Oxford Road train station. The Ritz is also visible half way down Whitworth Street West.

The bottom photo is from November 2024 and shows some of the change that has taken place over the past 30 years. From right to left:

The W3 Building was delivered by Westport Developments in 2002 and on the other side of the Ritz is The Lock Building, also completed by Dandara in 2002. In the background is Deansgate Square by RENAKER along with the First Street car park.

Above the former Cornerhouse is RENAKER’s 29 storey Assembly building, completed in 2016; Downing’s 45-storey Square Gardens development; and also visible above the former Cornerhouse Gallery is the 33 storey Liberty Living (formerly known as Student Castle) designed by Hodder + Partners.

In terms of the Cornerhouse itself it ran as a cinema and centre for contemporary arts from 1985 until 2015 (to show Euan’s age he remembers watching Trainspotting there in 1996!)