In 1861 the then Bishop of Salford, Herbert Vaughan, invited a Belgian community of Recollects, a branch of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor, to come to Manchester and found a new church.

The building was sold to a property developer, who stripped the monastery of its furnishings and fittings, including mahogany pews, oak doors and sculptures.

[10][11] A separate trading company, The Monastery Manchester Ltd, was set up to operate the premises on a commercial basis as a venue for conferences, business meetings weddings and community events.

[12] The wing, designed by Eco Arc, was built by HH Smith & Sons Ltd on the footprint of a building that was demolished in the 1960s.

[15] Edward Welby Pugin's monastery church is a tall and imposing polychromatic red and blue brick building inspired by the late 13-century Gothic style with sandstone dressing.

The south front facing the main street is elaborately decorated with Gothic features with strong vertical emphasis.

Three oversized, full-height flying buttresses are surmounted by canopied statues and a large central sculpted crucifix.

The interior is dominated by the 13-bay nave with east and west aisles and lined by buttresses, with each bay pierced by lancet windows.

After the church fell derelict in the 1980s, many of the internal fixtures and furnishings were removed by property developers, including the statues known as the Saints.. A local historian spotted them in a Sotheby's catalogue in 1994 listed as "garden ornaments", and the statues were purchased by Manchester City Council.

After they had been held in storage for 16 years they were restored over a period of eight months and finally hoisted back to their original positions in 2012.