Artist’s incredible before and after photos show Manchester travelling through time

Manchester is moving at a million miles per hour. We’re a city in constant motion.

But what if we could just pause for a moment. Imagine travelling back in time and seeing the same place we know and love… only in an entirely different era.

As it turns out, one artist is helping Mancs do exactly that.

kELzO has launched a Manchester Time Travel page on social media: comparing and contrasting the same shots of the city then and now; before blurring them together.

The results are incredible; revealing just how much Manchester has transformed over the past century.

Here’s a glimpse of kELzO’s work:

These shots show Oxford Street facing Portland St in 1909.

The same view was captured earlier this month (September 2020).

Richmond Street with Minshull Street Courts in the distance shot in 1929.

The next photos show a similar view, 91 years later in 2020.

These shots show Market Street facing Pall Mall in 1820.

This is contrasted with the same view an amazing 200 years later.

These photos show the White Lion on Long Millgate from the back of Manchester Cathedral.

The Cathedral hotel is on the left and Fennel Street on the right.

The first shot is from 1904, the third is from 2020.

This set of images show the now demolished Don Cinema in Holt Town, off Beswick Street in Ancoats in 1959.

The same view in 2020 reveals Metrolink trams are now running in its place.

These images show Paulden’s department store on the corner of Cavendish Street and Higher Cambridge Street in 1927, and then the same view in June 2020.

According to kELzO, the big building with the clock was destroyed by fire in 1957 shortly after a refurb and the smaller building on the right became Romany City.

The site is now Manchester Metropolitan University student halls and offices.

The Refuge Assurance building from Charles St, Manchester 1912.

The second photo shows the same structure 108 years later in 2020.

Wow.

To see more terrific images from Manchester then and now, head over to the Manchester Time Travel Facebook page.

Visit kELzO’s official website here.