Free Trade Hall, Manchester

Edward Walters 1808 - 1872

Summary

Perspective view of the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Front elevation of a three storey, large stone building. On the ground level there is an arched walkway of nine bays that you can walk under. The Free Trade Hall on Peter Street in Manchester was a public hall built between 1853-1856 on land given by the reformer, Richard Cobden, in St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Masacre. Designed by the architect Edward Walters based on the palazzo style of Palladio's Basilica in Vicenza, Italy, it was funded by public subscription. The building was bombed during World War II but the facade was left standing and the hall became a concert hall and the home of the Halle Orchestra from 1858. Walters' original Italian palazzo-style facade was retained when the building opened as a hotel in 2004. It was at the suggestion of Richard Cobden that Walters set up his architectural practice in Manchester in the 1830s.