Daily Express Building, Manchester

The building was required to accommodate existing growth at the Daily Express during the 1930s. During this decade the Daily Express was the most circulated newspaper in the world, with sales of up to 2.25 million.{{cite web |title=The Daily Express |url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jexpress.htm |website=Spartacus |access-date=3 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007073808/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jexpress.htm |archive-date=7 October 2012}} Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, owner of the Daily Express, commissioned three buildings in London, Manchester and Glasgow which would help accommodate this growth. Beaverbrook stipulated that all three buildings should be of the highest architectural quality, and assigned renowned engineer Sir Owen Williams to assist in the delivery of them.{{cite web |title=Daily Express Building, Great Ancoats St |url=http://www.manchestermodernistsociety.org/icon.html |website=Manchester Modernists Society |access-date=3 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705145949/http://manchestermodernistsociety.org/icon.html |archive-date=5 July 2012}}

The London building opened in 1931, followed by the Glasgow building in 1937 and the Manchester building in 1939. Although similar to both buildings, it was uniquely different with Williams acting as engineer and architect; the former two were both designed by Ellis and Clark. The Glasgow and London buildings were designed by chartered architects while Williams, although not a qualified architect, was a competent designer. The interior of the London building is lavishly decorated, but suffers from a poor and dense site. The architecture of the exterior and site of the Manchester building is regarded as superior which allows the building to shine. Williams kept the design simple, preferring curved corners, cantilever roof rails and a three-storey turret; all these features share more in common with a

Futurist Streamline Moderne design rather than Art Deco.

Only 35 years after opening, the building was Grade II* listed on 3 October 1974.{{NHLE|num=1218285|desc=Daily Express Building|date=14 April 2002 |access-date=5 July 2008}}{{cite web |url=http://www.cube.org.uk/ftp/City/Tours/cube_tours_ancoatsandneweastmanchester.pdf |title=TDEB |website=CUBE |year=2001 |access-date=5 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060409123555/http://www.cube.org.uk/ftp/City/Tours/cube_tours_ancoatsandneweastmanchester.pdf |archive-date=9 April 2006}} The initial client of the building, the Daily Express, left Manchester in the late 1980s,{{cite web |url=http://www.pbase.com/andrewgoudie/image/77832724 |title=Daily Express Building, Manchester |publisher=Andrew Goudie |date=26 April 2007 |access-date=5 July 2008}} possibly because other buildings in the area were in a poor state of repair. However, after the Daily Express decided to leave the city, there was no new press which expressed interest in continuing the building's role as a printing centre, so instead this was discontinued; but printing does still continue in the area.{{cite web |url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=511&documentID=1216&pageNumber=3 |title=Ancoats and its building today |website=Manchester City Council |access-date=5 July 2008}}

File:Express Building roof detail.jpg

The building's corners are curved, taking inspiration from the 1930s Streamline Moderne movement. It features typical Art Deco motifs: rounded corners, setbacks and a simple contrasting clear and black glass curtain wall. The Express began printing there in 1938, having been on the same site since 1927. Construction had to take place in stages so publishing could continue without interruption.

Originally, it was possible for passers by to peer into the main hall to see the large newspaper printing press.{{cite web |title=About Ancoats - Buildings - The Express Buildings |url=http://www.ancoatsbpt.co.uk/about_ancoats_buildings.htm |website=Ancoats BPT |access-date=9 December 2011}} When the building was converted during the 1990s, the glass was made reflective so that outsiders could not see the interior of the building.

Nikolaus Pevsner described the building as an "all-glass front, absolutely flush, with rounded corners and translucent glass and black glass" and "a most impressive sight from the street, particularly when lit up at night."

The Express Building influenced Norman Foster during his youth, describing "I was very taken with the Daily Express building, for example, from the Thirties, wonderfully curved with black glass".{{cite web |title=Sir Norman Foster - 'My time as a bouncer' |url=http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/architecture/articles/2012/july/29/sir-norman-foster-my-time-as-a-bouncer/ |website=Phaidon |access-date=3 October 2012}} "I knew it was there, and I went looking for it. It was not in a part of town that you could just stumble across it. I remember the chromed strips and the Vitrolite that the black façade was made of". Foster's first successful work was the Willis Faber and Dumas Headquarters (1975) in Ipswich, a building which share many features with the Express Building, such as the use of dark glass, curtain walling and few right angled corners. The Willis Building was Grade I listed in 1991.

File:Foyer of Daily Express Building, Great Ancoats Street, Manchester, UK 02.jpg

The Express Building has been extended four times in its history, the most recent being between 1993 and 1995,{{cite news |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/express-building-is-sold-to-us-group-for-20m-1042735|title=Express building is sold to US group for £20m |work=Manchester Evening News |date=26 September 2006 |access-date=6 July 2008}} and was subsequently converted into apartments and offices for the Expressnetworks company. The former printing press was refurbished in the late 1990s and finished in 2000.{{Cite news |title=Express route to a richer life |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/property/s/69/69503_express_route_to_a_richer_life_.html |work=Manchester Evening News |date=8 October 2003 |access-date=9 December 2011 |archive-date=21 April 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130421101907/http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/property/s/69/69503_express_route_to_a_richer_life_.html |url-status=dead}} This was able to be done only through funding by the Express Group and regeneration grants. The structure was sold to Washington, D.C.–based A&A Investments in 2006 for £20.5 million, after previous owners Stockbourne had occupied the building for 12 months. In April 2013, the building was put up for sale with an asking price of £9.5 million.{{Cite web |title=Manchester's Express Building on market for £9.5m |url=http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/north-west/88994- |website=Insider Media |date=24 April 2013 |access-date=21 March 2014}}{{update needed|date=March 2023}}

{{portal|Greater Manchester}}

• Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
• Listed buildings in Manchester-M4
• The Man in the White Suit (1951 film) which features a shot of the building lit up at night

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160204161837/http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=802 Daily Express, Manchester] - Engineering Timelines article on the building

{{commons category|Daily Express Building, Manchester}}

{{Express newspapers}}

{{Manchester B&S}}

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Manchester

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1939

Category:Art Deco architecture in England

Building, Manchester

Category:Newspaper headquarters in the United Kingdom