Manchester as a European city, a palette of Greek temples, graceful gables, merchants’ palaces and soaring spires. The city centre is lined with architectural splendour, from the soaring spires of the Town Hall to the mathematical purity of the Friends’ Meeting House and the exquisite Renaissance effects of the Athenaeum.

No wonder the “Builder” magazine once described Manchester as “a more interesting city to walk over than London. One can scarcely walk about Manchester without coming across frequent examples of the grand in architecture. There is nothing to equal it since the building of Venice.”