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The Towers (Manchester)

1872 establishments in England1920 establishments in EnglandDidsburyGothic Revival architecture in Greater ManchesterGrade II* listed buildings in Manchester
Grade II* listed office buildingsHouses completed in 1872Houses in ManchesterOffice buildings in ManchesterTowers in Greater Manchester
TheTowersDidsbury
TheTowersDidsbury

The Towers (later known as the Shirley Institute, and then the BTTG) is a research establishment for new technologies in cotton production. The Shirley Institute was established in 1920 at a cost of £10,000 to accommodate the newly formed British Cotton Industry Research Association. It is a Grade II* listed building in the suburb of Didsbury, located 6 miles (10 km) south of the centre of Manchester, England.

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The Towers (Manchester)
Parrs Wood Road, Manchester Didsbury

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 53.4081 ° E -2.2261 °
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Parrs Wood Road
M20 5QG Manchester, Didsbury
England, United Kingdom
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TheTowersDidsbury
TheTowersDidsbury
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Parrs Wood House
Parrs Wood House

Parrs Wood House is an 18th-century Georgian villa in the Parrs Wood area of Didsbury, Manchester, England. It was described by Pevsner as "a poorer man's Heaton Hall." It was designated a Grade II* listed building on 25 February 1952.The "white stucco mansion" consists of a "square main block with (two) unequal service wings on (the) north side. It is of two storeys and [three] bays [with] a three-window service range to the left." The architect of the house is unknown, but "it may have been designed by a member of the Wyatt family". Parrs Wood House was bought in 1795 by Richard Farrington, whose brother, the diarist and artist Joseph Farrington, died there after falling down the stairs of the Church of St James, Didsbury, in 1821. From 1825 Parrs Wood House was home to the Tory MP James Heald (1796–1873). Heald was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and a prominent philanthropist, supporting a number of charitable causes. He was elected MP for Stockport in 1847 alongside Richard Cobden. Following his death, St Paul's Methodist Church, Didsbury was erected as a memorial to him. James Heald did not marry and had no children. The Parrs Wood estate passed to his nephew after his death, and remained in the family until in the 1920s, when it was sold to the Manchester Corporation, on the provision that it would be used for educational purposes. The estate later became the location of Parrs Wood High School and Parrs Wood Rural Studies Centre. The mansion was formerly the music building and is now the sixth-form centre of Parrs Wood High School. In 2000, much of the school land was sold to property developers who built a large entertainment complex, changing the area "from a semi-rural educational enclave into a leisure complex". During the redevelopment, Parrs Wood House suffered damage and theft, and the original stables burnt down.

Capitol Theatre, Manchester
Capitol Theatre, Manchester

The Capitol Theatre was a cinema in Didsbury, Manchester later used as television studios by ITV contractor ABC Weekend TV from 1956 to 1968. The building opened as a cinema in 1931, but was badly damaged by fire in April 1932 and was closed for repairs until August 1933. The cinema was equipped for the production of live shows, and was used for occasional pantomimes and amateur theatrical performances. In 1956 it was converted into television studios for ABC Weekend TV. Programmes such as Opportunity Knocks and Police Surgeon were made in the studios. Following the merger of Associated Rediffusion and ABC to create Thames Television (on air from July 1968) the studios were leased to Yorkshire Television in 1967 for recording pre-launch programming whilst their own studios were being constructed and in 1970 was sold to Manchester Polytechnic and was the base for their theatre and television school from 1971. Renamed the Horniman Theatre, it staged performances by students of the college, including early performances by Julie Walters, Bernard Hill, and David Threlfall.The theatre reverted to its original name in 1987, and the polytechnic was granted university status as "Manchester Metropolitan University" on 15 September 1992 under the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. As part of the university restructuring in 1997, the building was sold to a development company and demolished to make way for blocks of flats. The School of Theatre moved its faculty and performance space to the All Saints campus on Oxford Road, where there is now a new Capitol Theatre, a 140-seat studio space.