A Manchester photographer has captured one of the city’s architectural giants being brought down to size – in GIF form.
The demolition of the former Employment Exchange has been captured by snapper John Thurm over a number of weeks, who posted the clip on Twitter.
The Aytoun Street ‘dole office’ was recently brought down to make way for a brand new four-star 300-bedroom hotel on the 165,000 square foot site.
The fall of the employment exchange on Aytoun Street, Manchester. (animated gif) http://t.co/lw8W5KjI5z
— John Thurm (@johnthurm) October 23, 2014
“I have worked close to the building for about 18 years so have seen it a lot, from homeless people being evicted to Fathers for Justice scaling it to put up banners,” said John.
“At one time it was smothered with fly posters. It was well and truly part of the scenery so I wanted to capture it before it was demolished.
“Something had to be done with the building as it was deteriorating rapidly. I would have liked it to have been kept, even if just the cleaned up frontage.
“I believe the planners should treat our older buildings with a lot more respect. They seem too keen to demolish and rebuild.”
The clip shows work on the red-brick building continue rain or shine as the towering giant is reduced to rubble.
The Employment Exchange was originally designed in 1936 by architect David Thomson, but wasn’t built until the late 1940s because of World War II, eventually opening in 1951.
After closing its doors in 1993, the building was felled early this year after the planning permission to flatten it was approved in January.
A business backed by entrepreneur Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia is believed to be funding the new hotel, which is set to open its doors next year.
Image courtesy of Google Maps, with thanks
