White City, Greater Manchester

White City is a retail park on Chester Road in Old Trafford, Stretford, Greater Manchester, England. At the southeast corner of the docks area and southeast of Manchester United's ground, it is the site of the former Manchester Botanic Gardens which hosted the Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857. The gateway of the Botanic Gardens still stands at the edge of the retail park. During its history, White City has also been the site of an amusement park and a sports stadium for athletics, greyhound and stock car racing.

In 1827 the Botanical and Horticultural Society was founded in Manchester to encourage the study of botany and horticulture. The society built a botanical garden on the site covering 16 acres (65,000 m²). The site was chosen by John Dalton for the society as it was down-wind of pollution from the city. The land, which was owned by Thomas de Trafford, was leased to the society at a price of the society's choosing.

The gardens featured a complex of plant houses and a conservatory that was built by Clarke and Jones of Birmingham. The building was 321 feet (98 m) in length and the conservatory had a 40 feet (12 m) high dome. The buildings were heated by a system of hot water flowing through pipes. The Grade II listed gateway that still faces Chester Road was the entrance to the gardens.

In 1857 the gardens hosted the Art Treasures Exhibition which was opened by Prince Albert. The exhibition was visited by 1.3million visitors in 142-days. A further exhibition was held in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. This exhibition attracted 4.74 million people over 192-days.

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