Our Town Hall – Portraits of a Workforce

The current first-floor exhibition at Central Library comes courtesy of the team currently working on the Our Town Hall Project to repair, renovate and refurbish Manchester’s iconic Town Hall.

Extraordinarily little is known about the artisans who built the Town Hall between 1868 and 1877, and certainly no photographs exist.

But fast-forward 150 years and today’s skilled workers are no strangers to the lens of Manchester City Council photographer Barrie Leach. As well as physical progress, Barrie’s been capturing portraits of those working on the Town Hall since the beginning of the project to repair, restore and refurbish this much-loved building.

As well as modern construction workers and behind-the-scenes staff, there are some incredible heritage trades involved. Stonemasonry, mosaic making, stained glass repair and manufacture, horology: these are all crafts that would have been widespread in the 1870s but are now very much specialist – and rare – trades.  They are, however, critical to our restoration project.

Alongside the words of the workers themselves, 30 large portraits and 60 contextual images show the pride this modern team has discovered in being able to lovingly restore, and give new life to, the work of the forgotten workforce who went before them.