THEN & NOW SUNLEY BUILDING

Welcome to Then and Now, where each week we compare images of Manchester streets, landmarks and buildings from bygone days with how they look in more recent times

OUR main image this week shows a panoramic view of Piccadilly Gardens overshadowed by the towering Sunley Building. The date is July 1977.

The 30-storey skyscraper had been photographed from the new National Westminster bank office in nearby Fountain Street.

Now known as City Tower, the Sunley skyscraper was completed in 1965 as one of three buildings in the Piccadilly Plaza development begun in 1959.

It took its name from the original developers Bernard Sunley and Sons.

Standing at right angles to Piccadilly, the north-facing wall of City Tower is now decorated with designs based on circuit boards, part of the plaza’s extensive remodelling in 2001-2.

The distinctive swooping roof of Eagle Star House, the building to the west of the tower, has been replaced with shallower curves.

In the 1970s, the urban oasis of Piccadilly Gardens was festooned with formal flower beds and neatly cut trees, as can be seen from our photo.

These were replaced in 2002 with the opening of the concrete pavilion and water feature designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

The new development was not universally popular.

Some dubbed the concrete pavilion ‘the Berlin Wall’ and bemoaned its ‘cold and modernistic look.’

There were problems with the new turf too.

The remodelling of Piccadilly Gardens formed part of the huge rebuilding project to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

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