New chapter for city icon

Changing face of The Rylands Building

- JESS MOLYNEUX, LEE GRIMSDITCH

MASSIVE redevelopment is under way at one of Manchester city centre's most iconic buildings as a new chapter in its story is about to be written.

After one-time high-street giant Debenhams collapsed into administration in 2020, the Rylands building on the corner of Market Street and High Street has stood empty. Since the closure, the ex-department store building has become prey to graffiti and anti-social behaviour, threatening to transform the handsome Grade II listed building into an abandoned eyesore.

Thankfully, behind the scenes new life is now being breathed into the building in preparation for a new era as a major shopping, leisure and office destination. While this promises to be one of the city's most exciting restoration projects, this isn't the building's first major change since its construction.

It was originally built as a warehouse for the Rylands textile company, founded by the entrepreneur and philanthropist John Rylands in 1932. Following a fire in 1957 which destroyed the premises of Paulden's department store in All Saints, the company purchased the warehouse building and converted it to a store.