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Cathedral Gardens - or Urbis as it has long been known to Mancunians - is a curious part of the city centre. Part gothic, part modernist, it sits in a space that is unencumbered by the chaos of Piccadilly Gardens or the bustle of Market Street .

Flanked by Chetham's School of Music, Victoria Station and the Corn Exchange and with the Cathedral in clear view, it is steeped in history.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed a habit of studying together at a table in the Reading Room at Chetham’s Library in 1845. View 7 Images

But gaze from the window of that library today and you can see one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks - Ian Simpson’s Urbis building.

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