Manchester's buildings display a variety of architectural styles, ranging from Victorian to contemporary architecture. The widespread use of red brick characterises the city. Much of the architecture in the city harks back to its days as a global centre for the cotton trade. Just outside the immediate city centre is a large number of ex-cotton mills, some of which have been left virtually untouched since their closure whilst many have been redeveloped into apartment buildings and office space. Manchester Town Hall, in Albert Square, was built in the gothic revival style and is considered to be one of the most important Victorian buildings in England. It has been used in film as a replacement location for the Palace of Westminster, where filming is not permitted. Manchester also has a number of skyscrapers built during the 1960s and 1970s, the tallest of which is the CIS Tower located near Manchester Victoria station. The Beetham Tower, completed in 2006, is an example of the new surge in high-rise building and includes a Hilton hotel, a restaurant, and apartments. On its completion, it was the tallest building in the UK outside London, although an even taller building, the Piccadilly Tower, began construction behind Manchester Piccadilly station in early 2008. The Green Building, opposite Oxford Road station, is a pioneering eco-friendly housing project, almost unique in the UK.
In the north of the city borough is the award winning Heaton Park which is one of the largest municipal parks in Europe covering 610 acres (2.5 km²) of parkland. There are a total of 135 parks, gardens and open spaces within the city. Two large squares hold many of Manchester's public monuments. Albert Square has monuments to Prince Albert, Bishop James Fraser, Oliver Heywood, William Ewart Gladstone and John Bright. Piccadilly Gardens has monuments dedicated to Queen Victoria, Robert Peel, James Watt and the Duke of Wellington. The cenotaph in St Peter's Square, by Edwin Lutyens, is Manchester's main memorial to its war dead. The Alan Turing Memorial in Sackville Park commemorates his role as the father of modern computing. A statue of Abraham Lincoln by George Gray Barnard in the eponymous Lincoln Square was presented to the city by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Phelps Taft of Cincinnati, Ohio, to mark the part that Lancashire played in the cotton famine and American Civil War of 1861–1865. The success of the 2002 Commonwealth Games is commemorated by the B of the Bang, located near the City of Manchester Stadium in the Eastlands area of the city. At 184 feet (56 m) tall, the sculpture is the tallest in the UK. A Concorde is on display near Manchester Airport.
Unit 6. Higher Education.
