1 The Avenue interpretations of Gothic revival in the world. 1 The Avenue 1 The Avenue is a building in Spinningfields, Manchester. It is situated on Deansgate adjacent to the grade-I listed John Rylands Library. The building consists of two mirror-image parallelograms, stacked one on top of the other, resulting in a three-storey cantilever on the east end of the building. The cantilever is supported by an inclined steel ‘diagrid’ structure. Reaction to the glass clad building has been mixed due its proximity to the Grade I listed Rylands Library which, along with the Town Hall is considered the finest piece of architecture
John Rylands Library archives of the Methodist Church of Great Britain in 1977. Between 1946 and 1988 a number of sections of the Earl of Crawford's library were deposited here, however all but one of these were withdrawn in 1988. Mrs Rylands died in 1908 having bequeathed her private collections and an endowment of £200,000 to enable the library to expand. The funds were used to acquire 180,000 books, 3,000 manuscripts and extend the building. The Librarian, Henry Guppy, invited individuals to deposit their archives for safe keeping in 1921 when there were no county record offices in Lancashire or Cheshire and the