Of the Roman Catholic churches that of the Holy Name, which belongs to the Jesuits, is remarkable for its costly decoration. The Greek Church and most of the Nonconformist bodies have places of worship. There are Jewish synagogues as well as a meeting house of the Society of Friends.
The royal infirmary (founded 1752) occu pies a new building on the south side of the city near the university. It was opened in 1909 by King Edward VII. The central site in Piccadilly, where the old infirmary stood, thus became avail able for other purposes, and the corporation in 1925 approved of plans for the erection of a new art gallery on the site. The present art gallery was founded as the royal institution, but in 1882 passed under the control of the city council. The collection contains some fine paintings by Etty, Millais, Leighton and other artists. The sculpture includes casts of the Elgin marbles and a statue of Dr. John Dalton by Chantrey. The most striking of the public build ings is the town hall, one of the largest municipal buildings in the country, but no longer adequate to the increasing business of the city council. It was completed in 1877 from designs by Alfred Waterhouse, who selected as the style of architecture a form of Gothic. The principal tower is 286 ft. high. The tower contains a peal of bells by Taylor of Loughborough, forming an almost perfect chromatic scale of 21 bells. The great hall is 'co ft. long and so ft. wide, and contains a magnificent organ built by Cavaille Coll of Paris. The I 2 panels of this room are filled with paintings by Ford Madox Brown illustrating the history of the city.
Plans for the erection of new municipal buildings and a central reference library were passed by the corporation in 1927. The buildings will adjoin the present town hall and extend along Mount street to Peter's street and St. Peter's square. The library will face the Midland hotel. The royal exchange is a fine specimen of Italian architecture and was erected in 1869 and extended and reconstructed in 1914-21; the great meeting hall is one of the largest rooms in England. The exchange is seen at its best on mar ket days (Tuesday and Friday). The assize courts were built in 1864 from designs by Waterhouse. The style is a mixture of Early English and Decorative, and a large amount of decorative art has been expended on the building. The branch Bank of England is a Doric building designed by C. R. Cockerell. There are sepa rate town halls for the townships of Ardwick, Chorlton, Hulme, and Cheetham. The Free Trade Hall, purchased by the corpora tion in 1921, is a fine structure in the Lombardo-Venetian style and its great hall will accommodate about 5,00o people. It is used for public meetings, concerts, etc., and was built by Edward Walters. The Athenaeum, designed by Barry, was founded by Richard Cobden and others for "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge." The institution has perhaps, not followed exactly on the lines contemplated, but it has been very useful, having developed more along the lines of a club. The mechanics' institu
tion has developed into the municipal school of technology, which now forms a part of the university. The Portico is a good speci men of the older proprietary libraries and news-rooms. It dates from 1806. The Memorial Hall (built 1662) is used for meetings, scientific, educational, musical and religious. The Whitworth In stitute contains a collection of works of art and stands in the centre of a woodland park, near the new infirmary, which park has been transferred to the corporation. John Rylands library (1899) is one of the finest specimens of modern Gothic architec ture, but its magnificence is dwarfed by its enclosed position. The post office (1887), the police courts (1871) and the numerous fine buildings which house commercial firms should also be named. Many fine structures suffer from being hemmed in by streets which prevent the proportions from being seen to advantage. The town possesses many monuments and memorials, one of the most interesting being a bronze statue by Matthew Noble of Oliver Cromwell on a rough granite pedestal, which stands near the cathedral.
There are many educational facilities. The oldest institution is the grammar school, founded in 1519 by Hugh Old ham, bishop of Exeter. The founder, a native of the town, f or bade the appointment of any member of the religious orders as headmaster. The school is richly endowed and has now 25o free scholars, while other pupils are received on payment of fees. The oldest educational foundation is that of Humphrey Chetham, whose blue-coat school, founded in 1653, is housed in the building formerly occupied by the college of clergy. This also contains the public library founded by Chetham, and is the most interesting relic of antiquity in the city. The educational charity of William Hulme (1631-91) is administered under a scheme drawn up in 1881. Its income is nearly io,000 a year, and it supports a gram mar school. The Nicholls hospital was founded in 1881 for the education of orphan boys. The Manchester Education Committee has replaced the school boards for education supervision. The ele mentary education scheme embraces the education in provided and non-provided schools; district central schools ; secondary schools; junior technical, commercial, domestic and art schools; part-time day continuation schools, special schools and evening schools. In addition there is a large and well-equipped school of technology, school of art, teachers' day-training college, special schools for feeble minded children, and a royal college of music. Schools for the deaf and dumb are situated at Old Trafford, in a building contiguous to the blind asylum, to which Thomas Ren shaw left a bequest of L20,000. There is also an adult deaf and dumb institution.