Miscellaneous factories and mills, Carlisle, Cumbria – architects tbc – dates tbc
I had an extended impromptu visit to Carlisle recently so I spent my time checking out the local sites. Any info on any of the following will be greatly appreciated!
Control Tower, Dumfries Airfield
March 17, 2010 By 1 Comment
Control Tower, Dumfries Airfield, Heathall, Dumfries & Galloway – 1940
This is the restored Control Tower of the former WWII airfield at Dumfries, and the centrepiece of the Dumfries & Galloway Aviation Museum. I had wanted to include a photo of me beside a Spitfire – the perfect example of the development of Art Deco streamlined design, of course – but we were here at the end of October and my god it was cold and wet, so I began to lose my patience (there were also a few rabbits kicking around which rather distracted me!).
Tell you what though, this museum is a great place, if you’re into planes that is. Don’t expect the curatorial standards of the Metropolitan Museum, it is evidently run by enthusiastic volunteers, but the Dumfries & Galloway Aviation Museum makes a really fun and informative visit – and they let dogs in!
Wills cigarette factory, Newcastle upon Tyne
March 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
WD & HO Wills factory, Coast Road, Newcastle upon Tyne - Cecil Hockin - 1946
Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. These piccies were taken months ago during my Christmas travels around the country – it gets dark very early and rather quickly in December and it was a really cold day, which is why they’re not quite up to scratch (and besides, I had parties to get to), but I hope that they give you a decent enough idea of the building. And we did have fun there!
The factory was designed by Cecil Hockin who was apparently an in-house Imperial Tobacco Company architect. This suggests that he may also have designed the Wills factory in Glasgow, see previous entry (- thanks to Demdoggydog for the pointer).
The factory closed in 1986 and it laid derelict until the 90s when it was converted into apartments by Wimpey. You can see some fabulous photos taken during the last few days the factory operated at Amber Online.
You can read more about architecture in the Newcastle and Gateshead region, including the Wills building, in this rather lovely book: Newcastle and Gateshead: Architecture and Heritage
Wills tobacco factory, Glasgow
November 13, 2008 By 3 Comments
Wills factory, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow – architect unknown – date 1940s?
Crikey, I am surprised – I can’t find any info on who originally designed this Glasgow landmark, or when. As you can see in the photos, it’s been recently redeveloped into a business park. Admittedly I’ve been struggling to get my paws and claws around the pages of any books, so maybe haven’t researched as hard as I could, but I’d love any more facts if you’ve got any.
I don’t even know what fags they used to make here…
Battersea Power Station
August 18, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Battersea Power Station – Sir Giles Gilbert Scott – 1933 (completed 1957)
Well, what a fun morning I had on saturday – I finally made it to one of the open days of the Battersea Power Station site! A rare opportunity indeed. If you can possibly make it you should try and get along this saturday (Aug 23rd) between 10am and 5pm – it may be the last chance you get to see it this close up for a long while.
Just a word of warning though, if you’re a dog you probably won’t be allowed closer than I am in this piccie (above) – I had to get special permission (in my professional capacity as representative of Dog and Deco) to get into the site, and as you will see I took Health and Safety Exec guidelines very seriously, sporting a not-so-sexy fluorescent vest throughout my site visit.
For more info see the website: www.battersea-powerstation.com
south elevation
turbine hall
(not a very good photo I’m afraid – I was very distracted by the bit of sausage I found just here – but the turbine hall is so special I thought it worthy of inclusion anyway)
north elevation
north elevation
main boiler house
staircase (adjacent to north west chimney)
a very smug mutt!
