Edward Byrom built a quay on the River Irwell in the 1730s and the street was built to link it to Deansgate which was then known as Aldport Lane. In 1794, it was extended eastwards to Mosley Street. Richard Cobden's red brick townhouse, built in the Georgian style was the first home of Owens College and afterwards Manchester County Court. It is a Grade II* listed building. In the 1840s Harry Stokes ran a beerhouse at numbers 3 - 5 Quay Street. The Hospital for Skin Diseases was in Quay Street. The Opera House, formerly the New Theatre, was built in 1912 by Albert Richardson and Charles Lovett Gill with Farquarson in the Classical style.
