Former Mechanics Institute, Princess Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester
This building was built as a Mechanics Institute in 1854 by J.E.Gregan. The Manchester Mechanics Institute was founded in 1824 and its first president was the banker and philanthropist Benjamin Heywood. By the 1850s the Institute had outgrown its premises in Cooper Street and funds were raised by public subscription for this new building. It was the last building to be designed by Gregan before he died in 1855 aged 42. People at the time held that misunderstandings over professional fees for the job hastened his death. The building is notable for being the site of the first meeting of the Co-operative Insurance Company (now CIS) in 1867 and of the first Trade Union Congress in 1868.
