coxy's blog

The other month I heard that a new music venue will be arriving in Manchester. Due to be situated right in the heart of the city, the site for the venue would be focused around the renovation of an old building in Manchester; the ODEON Cinema.

The 1930s building has stood vacant since ODEON decided to shut the picture house in 2004, subsequently taking control of the more modern UCI-owned filmworks venture across town. The new music venue was said to be of a size to rival Manchester's Apollo on the outskirts of town; and no doubt many people would've welcomed this move.

However, nothing is as it seems. The building is actually not to be renovated and be turned into a music venue; but demolished, and replaced with office blocks. Plans for the demolition have been posted to Manchester City Council, but have not yet been approved. You can view the application online here.

I first came to notice this through a post on photo-sharing website Flickr, where most users who have commented are opposed to the demolition of this building, as are the readers of Manchester Evening News; each of whom admire the Art Deco decor of the building. And even those that don't care for the current building detest that it's set to be replaced by this building.

I know that premium office space is highly desirable and I'm sure that commercial rents in this area will be very nice for the company concerned.

How difficult could it possibly be to design something that has a little form aswell as function? I'm not asking them to spend fortunes, just do something different from the last 100 or so steel and glass constructions that have been thrown up round the city!

by krymorg

I won't miss the old Odeon (went there plenty before it closed, as far as cinemas go it was nothnig special) but I hate the fact another souless identikit office block is being thrown up!

by Hywel Teague

Personally, I'd love this building to remain. One of the things that Manchester is known for is it's wonderful architecture; and whilst there's currently a good mix of older and more modern styles - the bias is probably swinging a bit too far to the more modern style than the public care for. And what's more, it all seems a lame attempt to compete with London.

I hope this application to demolish this building doesn't go ahead; and there's probably many other buildings I'd love to see remain in Manchester that are no doubt deemed for destruction in the future; but for this one, historian Eddy Rhead has applied to English Heritage to have the Odeon building listed. This would mean restrictions are placed on any alterations to the structure or its appearance; saving us from the £45m 14-storey office block plans that were unveiled in December.

I've officially objected to the demolition on the City Council planning website, and you can too by clicking here; and if it comes to some sort of demonstration, I could see myself being there to save this site.

Further Reading:
Campaign to save historic cinema - BBC News
Odeon makes way for £45m offices - Manchester Evening News
Demolition of Odeon Cinema, Oxford Street - Flickr Group Discussion
Why demolition of the Odeon is bad news for Manchester - Aidan O'Rourke (Photographer)

Proposed Building Images:
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