Lucien le Grange Architects & Urban Planners

Prestwich Street Memorial is an Ossuary, designed and built to house the skeletal remains of slaves found on a building site in Prestwich Street. 

 

The slaves were not allowed to be buried within Church walls, and were buried in unmarked graves. 

 

This building sought to bring back dignity to the remains of these slaves by permanently housing them "within the wall". The building concept is that of a wall building, where most of the walls are thick, heavy and grounded. The only relief in these walls is provided by a few small punctuations, and the central exhibition space.

 

The geometry of the plan responds to this part of the city, where two different orientations of the street grid meet.

 

All photographs taken by Luc le Grange.