The Portico Library
Georgian subscription library under a glazed timber saucer dome, reached by stairs above a pub.
Location
About this audio guide
This audio guide to the Portico Library in Manchester follows the building itself, from the contract David Bellhouse signed in eighteen-oh-three to the gap between what was estimated and what the subscribers ended up paying. Architect Thomas Harrison of Chester, a hidden timber dome and a leaking roof all turn up along the way. Best heard standing under the dome, near the old gallery railing.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Manchester Central Library
Domed rotunda library with a round reading room ringed by a gilded verse from Proverbs.
Chetham's Library
Fifteenth-century college buildings housing a public library founded in 1653, once with chained books.
The John Rylands Library
Neo-Gothic Victorian library with a church-like reading room, rare books and marble statues.
Heaton Park
Vast historic parkland with a Georgian hall, boating lake and a relocated Greek-style colonnade.
Barton Arcade
Victorian cast-iron and glass shopping arcade with domed roofs and galleried balconies.
Corn Exchange Manchester
Edwardian Baroque grain exchange on a triangular plot, crowned by a glazed atrium dome.