Sackville Street

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Sackville Street can refer to both a steet in central Manchester, England and a large, historic building on that street.

[edit] The Street

Sackville Street is a street in Manchester City Centre. It runs in a north-south direction and is split into two sections by Whitworth Street, which runs in an east-west direction. At the northern end of the street is a junction with Portland Street. The northern half of the street runs through Manchester's Gay Village. Here the street runs over the Rochdale Canal and there is also a newly restored park - Sackville Gardens. The southern half of the street runs through what was the main campus of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), which is now part of the University of Manchester as its "north campus". Here the street runs under a railway viaduct, which carries the Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road line. At the southern end of the street there is a junction with the Mancunian Way (the A57).

[edit] The Building

The University of Manchester occupy what is now known as the "Sackville Street building" - before the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester with UMIST, it was UMIST's "Main Building". The building began construction in 1895 and opened in 1902, built with Burmantofts terracotta. It was then extended along Whitworth Street, towards Piccadilly Station, between 1927 and 1957 by the architects Bradshaw Gass & Hope, and is now a Grade II listed building.

The original main entrance is on Sackville Street and is called the Grand Entrance. However, today the entrance on Granby Row is the most used entrance and has the reception area for the building. The historic Godlee Observatory sits on the roof and is still in use. The building is otherwise used by the University for a number of functions and departments. Inside is the JOULE library and various offices, laboratories, lecture theatres and exam halls.