On 19 March 2009 SAVE learnt that Sunnyside Villa in Manchester had been demolished. This happened without warning some time in early March. Sunnyside was an unlisted building within a conservation area for which demolition consent had been granted in 2007.
Sunnyside was situated within an area known as Whalley Range, built as part of a new estate by Samuel Brooks, a wealthy banker, in the 1850s. Brooks had a vision for a new Manchester suburb which would attract ‘gentlemen and their families'. Sunnyside was one of five villas remaining from Brooks's original scheme, around which the conservation area was designated.
The building had been vacant for over 40 years. Yet, despite its run down condition, it still retained a good number of internal features, including fine plasterwork and original windows. The sad loss of Sunnyside exposes, once again, the weakness of conservation area protection.
