Day 18: Crime and punishment

Once again I would like to thank everyone for viewing my blog, the numbers have become so much larger than i thought were possible and one more follower! thank you everyone!       Today's pictures are of the beautiful town hall in Manchester and I don't think there are many town halls that look better! I promise to not focus too much on buildings in my blog and I will try keep some variety in the pictures :P I was not sure on a topic today but seeing as we are talking about a town hall I thought that the topic of crime and punishment/law and order.  I believe that putting people in prison and leaving them there to rot and just consume tax payers money is wrong, and some new form of punishment should be enforced such as forced labour. So that something can actually come out of a prison instead of being a money sink and a hotel for criminals! I would like to hear your opinions on this matter instead of just  my own and of course, say something if you think what I believe is totally wrong or if you agree with me leave a comment!                                                                                                   Now some random facts!  

Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian-era, Neo-gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. The building functions as the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments.

Completed by architect Alfred Waterhouse in 1877, the building features imposing murals by the artist Ford Madox Brown depicting important events in the history of the city. The Town Hall was rated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building in 1952 and the Town Hall Extension, completed in 1938, was Grade II* listed in 1974.The planning for a new Town Hall began in 1863. After an investigation of suitable sites, including Piccadilly, the site chosen for the new town hall was an oddly shaped triangle facing onto Albert Square. The choice of location was influenced by a desire to provide a central, accessible, but relatively quiet site in a respectable district, close to Manchester's banks and municipal offices, next to a large open area, suitable for the display of a fine building.

A competition was held to design the Town Hall. Of the 137 entries in open competition for the design, Waterhouse's design was chosen, mainly for his ingenious planning, and he was appointed as architect on 1 April 1868.The foundation stone of the new Town Hall was laid on 26 October 1868 by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Robert Neill. Construction took nine years, used fourteen million bricks,and cost £775,000 (£53.5 million as of 2011).The Town Hall was opened by Lord Mayor Abel Heywood, who had championed the project, on 13 September 1877, after Queen Victoria's refusal to attend the opening.

The building exemplifies the Victorian Gothic revival style of architecture, using themes and elements from 13th-century Early English Gothic architecture. The choice was influenced by the wish for a spiritual acknowledgement of Manchester's late medieval heritage in the textile trade of the Hanseatic league and also an affirmation of modernity, the fashionable neo-Gothic style being preferred over the Neoclassical architecture favoured in neighbouring Liverpool. The exterior, faced with hard sandstone quarried near Bradford, Yorkshire, known as "Spinkwell stone", is decorated with sculptures of important figures in Manchester's history. The interior is faced with multi-coloured Architectural terracotta by Gibbs and Canning Limited. The painted ceilings were provided by Best & Lea of Manchester, who had also provided the ceilings in the Natural History Museum, London, also designed by Alfred Waterhouse