Before 1755, the area was occupied by water-filled clay pits called the
Daub Holes. The street running along the northern edge was then called Lever's Row, later renamed
Piccadilly. In the 18th century,
Sir Oswald Mosley, 2nd Baronet, of Rolleston,
Lord of the Manor of Manchester, donated the land to the city on condition that it should remain in public use in perpetuity, on pain of the land reverting to the Mosley family. The Manchester Public Free Library Reference Department was housed on the site for a number of years before the move to
Manchester Central Library in 1934.
Landscaped gardens Following the demolition of the hospital, the use of the empty site was uncertain for some years. There was a proposal to erect a new municipal art gallery on the site and plans were drawn up by the architect
Ernest Berry Webber for a large
Neoclassical building. However, this scheme was never realised and the city's fine art collection remained in the
Manchester City Art Gallery, on nearby
Mosley Street. Another scheme put forward by the architect
Richard Carpenter was to build a large new replacement for
Manchester Cathedral on the site. In 1917, the conductor
Thomas Beecham proposed the construction of a large
opera house, but he went bankrupt before he could advance this plan any further. The "Great Hole of Piccadilly" remained empty throughout the 1910s and 1920s. In the 1930s, it was finally decided not to erect a new building on the former hospital site, but to turn it into a public garden. The area was landscaped and a sunken garden was laid out on the footprint of the former hospital basement, with formal flower beds, a rose garden and flowering
cherry trees. In the centre of the new gardens, the Corporation placed a bronze sculpture entitled
Adrift, depicting a family clinging to a raft in a stormy sea. It was designed by the noted sculptor
John Cassidy in 1907 and was given to the Manchester Corporation by the wealthy industrialist and art collector James Gresham, founder of Gresham and Craven engineering works. This was on the condition that the Corporation house it in the planned new art gallery. As the gallery scheme was not realised,
Adrift was instead used as the centrepiece of the new sunken gardens. It remained there until 1953, when it was relocated to the south end of the gardens. It was replaced with a commemorative fountain to mark the
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. When the Salford painter
L. S. Lowry created his 1954 oil painting
Piccadilly Gardens, the Coronation Fountain is clearly visible in the centre of the view amid the sunken flower beds. The painting hangs in the City Art Gallery on Mosley Street.
1945 plan During
World War II, many warehouse buildings along Parker Street on the southern side of Piccadilly Gardens were destroyed by bombing during the
Manchester Blitz. As part of the
urban renewal in the aftermath of the war,
The City of Manchester Plan was published by the City Corporation in 1945, which envisaged widespread redevelopment of the city centre. A "people’s place" entertainments centre was proposed for Piccadilly Gardens, encompassing a cinema, a theatre, dance halls, an ice-skating rink, a boxing stadium and restaurants; the surrounding gardens were to be floodlit. The plan was mostly unrealised. Between 1959 and 1965, the empty
bombsite on Parker Street was redeveloped and a complex of
Modernist buildings was erected. These were collectively known as
Piccadilly Plaza: the Piccadilly Hotel, Sunley House and Bernard House, designed by
Covell, Matthews & Partners.
Transport interchanges In 1931, as part of the redevelopment of the site,
Parker Street bus station was opened on the south side of the gardens; it was extended in 1935. This provided a central transport interchange for bus passengers. In 1991, construction work began on a new light rail transport network,
Manchester Metrolink. New tram lines were laid along the southern and western sides of Piccadilly Gardens, and a new tram stop constructed.
2000s redevelopment By the 1990s, the sunken garden had fallen out of favour. It was considered by some to be an unwelcoming space, cut off from the main city activity; its secluded aspect attracted alcoholicsm, vagrants and drug users. Following the
1996 Manchester bombing, an urban renewal programme was initiated across the city centre.
Manchester City Council initiated an international competition for the redesign of Piccadilly Gardens; in 1998, the winners were announced from a shortlist of six. The
landscape architects
EDAW were the successful bidders, along with their design partners
Arup, the Japanese architect
Tadao Ando, local architects Chapman Robinson and lighting engineer Peter Fink. Between 2001 and 2003, the gardens were redeveloped by EDAW, with aim of creating a "
world class" public space for a twenty-four-hour city. The overall cost was £20.7 million. The 1930s sunken garden was removed and filled in to create a flat plane of lawns. New paths were laid along geometric lines and arcs, surfaced in sandstone and blue Welsh slate. At the centre, a large oval fountain plaza was installed, equipped with computer-controlled fountain jets. On the south side, adjacent to the tram and bus interchange, a new concrete modernist
pavilion designed by Tadao Ando was erected along with a curved concrete wall to obscure the tram line. Selected species of trees were planted including
London Plane, fastigiated
oak,
flowering pear and
magnolia. Most of the original statues were retained in situ. Problems subsequently emerged with the redesigned gardens. The grassed areas frequently become damaged and turn to mud after some public use; and must be re-turfed regularly. The design has been criticised for its "cold, modernistic" style. Tadao Ando's concrete partition wall has proved unpopular and has been likened to the
Berlin Wall; it was partially removed in November 2020 in response to public comment – an action condemned by the
Twentieth Century Society. The Piccadilly Gardens area is frequently criticised as being a haven for drug users, and there have been media reports of
spice being openly traded and consumed in public there.
2020-present redevelopment In response to ongoing problems with antisocial behaviour and the public response to the 2003 landscaping, Manchester City Council announced it would redevelop Piccadilly Gardens. In 2020, Manchester City Council began working on changes to Piccadilly Gardens ahead of a wider redevelopment, including the partial demolition of the free-standing concrete wall along the northern edge of the gardens. In 2021, the council launched a fresh urban design competition to redesign Piccadilly Gardens once again. The council has stated that the aim of the £25 million project will be to create a "world class" public space with a "uniquely Mancunian" identity. In 2023, Manchester City Council announced that LDA Design will lead the redevelopment of Piccadilly Gardens, alongside Arup, United Creatives, Nayan Kulkarni, CPTED UK, The Liminal Space, Authentic Futures, and Gardiner & Theobald. In 2024, further works took place with the upgrade of the Piccadilly Gardens Pavilion, including the removal of the roof structure connecting the two commercial units and the installation of a new lighting feature, as part of interim improvements to the site. In 2025, Manchester City Council and LDA Designs revealed a new proposal for Piccadilly Gardens. The designs showed a more open and greener public space, with increased planting, the removal of the water feature and remaining concrete walls, changes to paths and seating. The plans include improvements to lighting and surveillance, including a permanent police presence, intended to improve safety within the Gardens. The council said it had also been working on longer-term plans for Piccadilly Gardens and the wider area, including a multi-million pound investment by
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to create a new transport interchange. ==Location==