Friday 23 March 2018

There has always been a developer .....on Port Street in the summer of 1851

Now the current wave of new build in the city shouldn’t blind us to that simple truth that the Victorian and Edwardian developer got there first, and no doubt when George lll was poised to lose us the American colonies, smart young 18th century speculators were happy to sweep away our Tudor past.

Port Street, 2018
And had we been privy to their discussions I bet phrases like “exciting new development”, “properties fit for the new century soon to dawn” and a “regeneration which would deliver new jobs with affordable homes” would have whizzed around the room.

All of which is an introduction to the new series of pictures taken by Andy Robertson of the streets around Stevenson Square, which was just one of those late 18th century developments.

Port Street, 1851
Wandering around Newton Street and onto Hilton and Port Street, Andy captured some of those bold new buildings which promised much.

His first is that stretch of Port Street from Hilton Street to Faraday Street which offers up some early 19th century properties with others from a later period.

Back in the 1850s, just beyond the pink walls of the Crown and Anchor were a row of properties which are now the site number 50 Hilton Street.

It was built in 1907 and has those impressive huge arched windows.

And if you continue past the Crown and Anchor, having taken in the two storey houses you arrive at that tall Victorian building which replaced similar modest properties.

Old and very old, Port Street, 2018
I haven’t yet got a date for its construction.  I know it post dates 1851 and it will just be a matter of trawling the directories and the Rate Books to find when it was built.

So Andy’s picture pretty much has the lot.

And yes if you cross the road there are some fine early 19th century properties.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Port Street, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson, and the area in 1851 from Adsheads map of Manchester, 1851, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

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