Manchester Town Hall

]] The rapid growth and accompanying pollution in Victorian cities caused great problems for architects including denial of light, overcrowding, awkward sites, noise, accessibility and visibility of buildings, and air pollution. Provision for "the sufficiency of window light supplied throughout the building" was addressed by the use of architectural devices: suspended first floor rooms, made possible by the use of iron-framed construction, skylights, extra windows and dormers, "borrowed lights" for interior spaces and glazed white bricks in conjunction with mosaic marble paving in areas where the light was "less strong". Clear glass was used in important rooms, with light-coloured tints for…

Council meetings are no longer regularly held in the town hall, but in the Town Hall Extension. The hall now has a number of other uses. It is licensed for weddings and civil partnerships and is available to hire for conferences and other events. Tours of the clock tower are available through external tour companies at a cost. As the town hall bears some resemblance to the Palace of Westminster, it has been used as a location for television and films. The original version of the political thriller House of Cards (1990) and the 2003 BBC drama series State of Play both used the town hall to represent Westminster. The films Ali G Indahouse (2001), Sherlock Holmes (2008), The Iron Lady (2011),…