Albert Square, St Peter's Square

- Town Hall, Central Library,Cenotaph, Midland Hotel, Art Gallery, Albert Memorial

In the heart of Manchester, you find two major squares; Albert Square and St Peter's Square. Between them is the victorian neo-gothic Manchester Town Hall, one of the most important landmarks of Manchester. This beautiful Grade 1 listed town hall was built 1868-77, is open to public and features exhibitions and a café in its basement. The main exterior of the Town Hall, designed by Alfred Waterhouse, is facing Albert Square, where you also find the gothic revival Albert Memorial, and a fountain erected for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Albert Square was named after Prince Albert.

St Peter's Square, at Peter St and Princess St, is where you find the Manchester Central Library, a neoclassical round building with a domed top, inspired by Pantheon in Rome. It opened in 1934 and was renovated 2010-14, and now has glass elevators. The entrance hall is called the Shakespeare Hall. You also find the Town Hall extension, Manchester Cenotaph (a World War I memorial from 1924) and the Midland Hotel, an edwardian baroque red stone building from 1903. This is where the founders of Rolls-Royce first met. At St Peter's Square, that was named after a church that was demolished in 1907, you also find several tram lines here (Manchester has modern yellow trams) and new very modern midrise office buildings.