Heritage society steps into Neville and Giggs planning row
PLANS for Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs’ £200m St Michael’s development in the centre of Manchester could be scuppered as the Twentieth Century Society campaigns for a synagogue on the site to be listed.
It has submitted an urgent application to Historic England to have the Manchester Reform Synagogue, which dates back to 1953, recognised as a listed building.
Under the plans for the area known as Jacksons Row, hatched by the St Michael’s Partnership, which the former Manchester United stars are part of, the Reform Synagogue would be rebuilt, and the former Bootle Street police station, built in 1937, would be demolished to make way for a five-star hotel, apartments, offices and restaurants.
Meanwhile, the Sir Ralph Abercromby pub, which dates back to the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, would also be demolished, although there has been an offer for it to be rebuilt elsewhere, brick by brick.
C20 Society adviser Tess Pinto described the plans, which have been designed by Make Architects, as “shocking.”
“The plans will not only sweep away two fine 20th century buildings, but will also have a devastating impact on the neighbouring conservation area. They show no consideration to Manchester’s special sense of place that one would expect from two football stars who made their careers and built their lives in the city,” she said.
The synagogue was designed by the architects Levy and Cummings, who were also members of the congregation, following the bombing of their former place of worship.
The Twentieth Century Society said the building is of particular historic interest as the first new post-war building to be constructed in the city after the Second World War, funded by war reparations.
The sociarty added that it understands it to house some of the earliest examples of figurative stained glass in a Jewish place of worship, as prior to the 1950s the portrayal of people in Synagogue artwork was widely considered taboo.
Pinto added: “There is a real paucity of non-Christian places of worship currently protected by listing in the country. In a context where there are ever declining examples of the twentieth century architectural heritage of British Jewry, we believe the Manchester Reform Synagogue would make a worthy addition to the national list.”
