Thursday, 13 January 2011

Astoria, Piccadilly

Former location of Astoria, Market Street. (c) Pimlico Badger at flickr.

On the corner of Tib Street and the Market Street / Piccadilly junction is this distinctive cast iron-framed building built by J. H. Lynde in 1879 which once housed commercial chambers as well as shops [1].  These days a boring Starbucks occupies the ground floor (and perhaps the first floor), but in the 1950s and '60s the second floor apparently housed the Astoria club [2].  Stairs and lift would take you up to the second floor although this photo from May 1959, when the ground floor was a 'John Collier' shop, doesn't indicate where the entrance was.

1. Manchester's Northern Quarter, English Heritage (2008).
2. http://manmates.proboards.com.

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