Victoria Park, Manchester

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The Edgar Wood Building

Victoria Park is an area of Manchester, UK. Victoria Park lies approximately 3 kilometres south of Manchester city centre, between Rusholme and Longsight.

The area was originally designed by the Manchester architect Richard Lane in the 1830s as an exclusive area for wealthy merchants of Manchester. It had its own tollgates, walls and police. Professionals moved into the large houses, and from the earliest days a wide variety of nationalities was represented.

The early years of the 'Victoria Park Company' were of mixed fortune. The original plans did not reach complete fruition, and the sedate atmosphere of the area began to change at the beginning of the twentieth century. After a period of social disintegration, which began as early as 1920, the area has become more established and is now made up of a mixture of university residences, rented accommodation and private residences. In March 1972, Manchester City Council designated a Conservation Area in Victoria park, with the aim of encouraging preservation of this unique area.

The area has over 20 listed buildings and among its many significant buildings is the notable Grade I listed First Church of Christ, Scientist in Daisy Bank Road, the work of the Middleton architect Edgar Wood. Also of significance are Summerville on Daisy Bank Road and St Chrysostom's Church (the work of G. T. Redmayne), situated at the corner of Oxford Place and Anson Road.

Former prominent residents include the musician Charles Hallé, the artist Elias Bancroft, the famous suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, the physicist Sir Arthur Schuster, the architect Edward Salomons, the political activist Richard Cobden and the woman of letters Marie Nordlinger.^[1]