City Art Gallery Café, Manchester City Centre

Manchester City Council

The Gallery Café is located in the City Art Gallery - a Grade 1 Listed building by the architect Charles Barry, who was also responsible for the design of the Houses of Parliament. A cylinder-shaped structure provides access to the bookshop and the café. Two seating sections encircle the servery. One part of the café is on a higher level, from where there is a view of the Waterhouse Town Hall opposite. The café and bookshop, as well as the servery, have been integrated into the historical structure with sensitivity. Black steel cubes on a continuous granite platform look like Victorian range abstractions. Black steel has been used for the glass shelves and the lighting fixtures. Simple, modern elegance underlines the coffered ceiling, the pattern of which is repeated in the vinyl floor covering. Light maple and aluminum Amat Toledo chairs complement the cool austerity.

The bookshop and café have proven to be a great advantage in terms of increased visitor numbers. This was the first significant architectural intervention in the Gallery. Unfortunately, the café was lost as a result of the major reworking of the whole gallery complex in 2002.