Rusholme & Victoria Park Archive

The view below is dated 1911 and shows a very new avenue of trees from Platt Lane across to Gore Brook

Another early view below, undated, looking in a north-westerly direction, you can see the newly planted trees of Platt Fields Avenue, (as above), but also seeing the houses along Platt Lane in the background.

This view below is dated 1913 & appears to be looking in a westerly direction towards the avenue above.

Platt Hall above was initially used as Tea Rooms & a large sign is across the portico, 'Refreshments'

View below 1912 of the westerly bridge over Gore Brook, spire of Holy Trinity in the background

The view below, (and a close-up beneath) is a splendid animated group in the park dated 1917 but I am quite unable to find where the camera was to take this picture..............answers on an email please!

The photo below was taken in 1929 and clearly shows Holy Trinity in the background through the trees and shrubs. Does this indicate the photograph above was taken to the West and slightly to the South of Holy Trinity?

Photo below is undated, Bowling Green adjoining the Hall

Remember! Wherever you see a 'Gallery' of smaller pictures as below then click on the picture and it will expand.

With exception of the 'Shakespeare Garden' postcard all of these views are prior to 1916.
Refreshment Rooms photographs are dated circa 191-12 and one card has the simplest message from the sender, 'A well known place here'!! Platt Hall must have made very fine tea rooms in the first years under the Parks Committee. One further aspect of these pictures is that you still see on the Ground floor the large Victorian sash windows. Since 1947 Platt Hall has been used as the Gallery of Costume.
Gore Brook clearly shows the recently constructed brickwork ensuring the waste flowed easily through the park. William Royle recalls in his book, 'It used to be a very much wider stream than it is now in the Platt Estate, and I well remember when it was 20 or 30 yards wide and it was a fine place for skating. I have bathed in it scores of times'
The Grounds, Platt Hall seems to be dated 1908. Earlier maps show at walled garden to the north-west of the Hall and perhaps that is it before the various works started later that year .

Platt Hall & Platt Fields is still in the management of Manchester City Council.
Manchester City Galleries has one of the largest British collections of fashion and clothing, housed in Platt Hall. The Gallery of Costume was founded in 1947 when Manchester acquired the large private collection of costume which Drs Willet and Phillis Cunnington had amassed during the 1930s, and which concentrated on middling and ordinary dress. The 19th century holding, including a large archive and library of fashion related material, was particularly significant, forming the nucleus of the collections even today.
Beginning with the stewardship of Anne Buck in 1947, a succession of curators has ensured that the strengths of the collections have been built upon in such areas as sportswear and occupational dress, whilst the breadth has been considerably expanded so that we have a wealth of representative material from 1600 onwards, including the Filmer collection of early 17th century dress. We also have a fine selection of 18th century women’s clothing with over 100 dresses, and an excellent collection of children’s costumes. Menswear too has been a priority, as has Manchester-labelled clothing.
More recently we have concentrated on increasing the Gallery’s holding of top-end couture to complement the more mainstream or high-street pieces, ranging from Schiaparelli and Chanel to McQueen and Westwood. A Collecting Cultures grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund is currently assisting with the purchase of some seminal couture pieces.
Undergoing substantial repairs and refurbishment, Platt Hall is temporarily closed to the public. For more information contact;
Platt Hall
Rusholme, Manchester, M14 5LL
0161 245 7245

A very enthusiastic Friends of Platt Fields are responsible for helping to organise events and activities. etc in the park. Their website can be accessed below. Remember to press the back button on your browser to return to this website.