old photographs of modernist buildings in Manchester

Manchester Archives are adding their fabulous photographic collection to flickr. Guest 'curators' select thematic groups of pics, such as 'Modernist Manchester'.

I love this picture of M & S in the 1960s:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/6130191250/

I also enjoyed the pictures of the new university buildings, such as this one of the Kilburn Building in 1971: http://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/6129643335/in/photostream/
It shows how the old Victoria university kept up with 'building the new universities' (see previous post).

See also this great series of stamps from 1971 showcasing modern universities: http://dirtymodernscoundrel.blogspot.com/2012/01/modern-university-buildings.html

On a somewhat tangental note, I also recommend reading Guy Ortolano's article, 'Planning the Urban Future in 1960s Britain', in Historical Journal, 54: 2 (2011). It's a thought-provoking and really well written account of Bucks county council's plans for a city connected by monorail. In the final event, Whitehall took over the new cities programme and built Milton Keynes there instead, where the car was king. But I love that initial sense of anything is possible, trying to find utopian solutions to the baby boom, car use, and green belt.

Update: thanks to Guy for alerting me to this project on tower blocks by Miles Glendinning and Stefan Muthesius: http://www.towerblock.org/

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