The eccentric visionary behind Sunlight House

Sunlight House was envisioned by Manchester architect Joseph Sunlight, born Joseph Zchovsky in Belarus to Jewish parents.

Little is known about him in the public arena, but he’s said to have fled the country with his family due to religious persecution, beginning work at an architect’s office in Manchester in 1904 at just 15 years of age. By the time he was 21 years old, Joseph had constructed more than a thousand houses in Greater Manchester, and just a decade or so later in 1921, over one million pounds of building work had been carried out according to his designs.

In the early 30s, Joseph and his team constructed Sunlight House, Manchester’s first skyscraper and his life’s greatest work. Though his dream of building an adjoining 33-storey block was never realised, its unique architecture remains a highlight on Manchester’s skyline and an emblem of a vision for Manchester’s thriving economic future.