Architectural drawings of Manchester Town Hall by Alfred Waterhouse have been rediscovered and authenticated by an expert working on a project to safeguard the heritage of the building.
The drawings, made from the 1860s to 1880s and including some which are hand-signed by Waterhouse himself, show the celebrated architect’s plans for the Town Hall as built, in painstaking detail.

They were found in the Town Hall’s basement by Kirsten McKnight, of Stephen Levrant Heritage Architecture, who has been assessing and cataloguing the building’s contents as part of her work on the Heritage Management Plan. The Plan is in place to ensure that the building’s many heritage features are protected during the ongoing ‘Our Town Hall’ transformation project.

The working drawings, which were formerly kept in the City Architect’s department, were made on thick, high-quality paper. They are now being kept in specialist climate-controlled conditions at the Archives+ Centre, Central Library.

Kirsten said: “This set of drawings give us amazing detail into Waterhouse’s architectural vision for the building. It is rare that we get the opportunity to gain such a level of insight into an architect’s thinking about such an important historic building. 

“Previously, we only had the drawings he submitted to win the competition to build the Town Hall – but these plans show the building as built and label the use for every single room in the building. The floor plans are even signed by Waterhouse.  

“They are working drawings and some even have pieces of paper attached to them to show alterations which were made in the late 19th century, after the building was in use.”

The drawings also reveal the massive transformation that building the Town Hall made to the area in the 1870s. They provide rich levels of detail – for example, detailing how much the Manchester Corporation had to pay to compulsorily purchase the land.

The drawings are among the many treasures of the Town Hall which are planned to be exhibited to the public, as part of the Our Town Hall project. As well as opening up the building to make it more welcoming and accessible, it is intended to showcase highlights from the Town Hall’s extensive collection of artefacts, ranging from gifts given to the city by civic visitors to furniture, silverware and ceramics personally designed by Waterhouse.

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