Manchester University

The Oxford Road buildings and the rest of the Old Quadrangle are the work of Waterhouse, a very popular architect for college buildings in the 1870s, probably best known nationally for the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. A Lancashire Quaker he was a bit too successful to be admired by posterity. His first commission was for the Manchester Assize Courts in 1859, now demolished. He designed Manchester's Town Hall in 1868 and began work here in 1870. All his work has a very sure touch and here he uses his own personal High Gothic which allowed him to place a huge semi circular archway in the centre of the composition. He also did the main university buildings in Leeds and Liverpool and worked on a fair number of Oxbridge colleges. He is a bit of a favourite of mine.