So this is the John Owens Building on the University of Manchester campus along Oxford Road. The building is in a quadrangle which is hidden from the road by the Manchester Museum (from whose windows I spotted it - you never know where a bit of education will lead you).
The building currently houses the Institute Cervantes, a Spanish language school.
This part of Deansgate is worth visiting just to see the uniform façade of the buildings.
Opposite is Deansgate station. Or Knott Mill station depending on which sign you wish to believe. I would love to go with the latter because of the style and permanency of the sign, but sadly the inelegant Deansgate one is correct. The station was opened as Knott Mill in July 1849 (if you think that is old, the aforementioned Museum of Science and Industry contains the original station building from the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, dating from 1830 - we will come to that in a moment). The current building is more modern - a mere 121 years old. It was renamed as Deansgate in 1971. And was there originally a clock above the name?
The current clock can be found on the city centre bound platform.
And so on to the Museum of Science of Industry - plenty of good old fashioned solid engineering, and quite a lot of railways engines and aeroplanes.
...and one in the booking hall.