Sunlight House, Manchester

Sunlight House stands on Quay Street, which runs from Manchester city centre to the banks of the River Irwell, which divides Manchester from Salford to the west. The building is Grade II listed, and is one of the city’s finest and best preserved examples of art deco architecture. Sunlight House was built in 1932 and named after its creator, Joseph Sunlight. Sunlight was an Anglo-Russian architect who moved to Manchester as an apprentice, and who is responsible for the design and construction of hundreds of buildings within the city, including several terraced streets in the suburb of Prestwich, and the South Manchester Synagogue.

Sunlight House was the architect’s flagship project. Built in 1932 and modeled on New York’s Empire State Building, it was intended to become Manchester’s tallest building. However, plans to increase the building’s height of forty stories were ultimately turned down. Sunlight House is now a private office building, having been extensively reinforced after water damage within the Portland stone exterior caused bolts and girders supporting the building to rust. Now fully restored, the building boasts a health club in its basement that retains the original underground swimming pool installed by Joseph Sunlight when the building was completed.