Daily Express Building, Manchester

Daily Express Building
Express Building
Front façade visible from Great Ancoats Street
General information
Type	Office and residential
Architectural style	Futurist Art Deco Streamline Moderne
Location	Great Ancoats Street Ancoats Manchester
Country	England, UK
Construction started	1936
Completed	1939
Renovated	1960 (Extension) 1979(Two-storey extension) 1983 1993-95(Office conversion)
Dimensions
Diameter	75,600 square feet (7,023 m2)
Technical details
Structural system	Steel and glass (curtain wall)
Floor count	Six-storeys
Design and construction
Architect	Sir Owen Williams
Civil engineer	Sir Owen Williams

The Daily Express Building, located on Great Ancoats Street, Manchester, is a Grade II* listed building which was designed by engineer, Sir Owen Williams. It was built in 1939 to house one of three Daily Express offices; the other two similar buildings are located in London and Glasgow.

The pre-World War II building is notable for its timeless, "space-age" quality and is often mistaken for being much younger than it is due to its futuristic avant garde appearance. The building is futurist art deco, specifically streamline moderne with its horizontal lines and curved corners. It is clad in a combination of opaque and vitrolite glass. It was considered highly radical at the time and incorporated a growing technology, curtain walling.

Unlike the London and Glasgow Express buildings, the Manchester building was designed by the engineer for all three buildings, Sir Owen Williams. It is considered the best of the three Express Buildings, and is admired by architects such as Norman Foster and Mancunians alike. The building was Grade II* listed in 1974, just thirty-five years after its initial construction, and remains Greater Manchester's youngest II* listed building.

The building was required to accommodate existing growth at the Daily Express during the 1930s. During this decade the Daily Express was the most circulated newspaper in the world with sales of up to 2.25 million.Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, owner of the Daily Express, commissioned three buildings in London, Manchester and Glasgow which would help accommodate this growth. Beaverbrook stipulated that all three buildings should be of the highest architectural quality and assigned renowned engineer Sir Owen Williams to assist in the delivery of these three buildings.