The interplay between light and dark shapes our relationship with place. At night, artificial illumination can have profound affects upon our experience of architecture, both as interior space and urban realm. This essay examines the city of Manchester in the United Kingdom, its pioneering industrialisation and subsequent legacy of an ‘architecture of darkness’. It then explores recent developments in urban illumination to ask how we might develop nocturnal spaces that are convivial, inclusive, and ecologically sustainable. In doing so, it aims to demonstrate how such an understanding can enable us to rediscover an architecture of darkness as integral to shaping the future of urban nights.