Available online here or call in the Modernist Shop on Port Street Manchester.
Tameside Moderne
By Steve Marland
A comprehensive guide to the Borough’s modern architecture.
Almost two years in the making.
Tameside east of Manchester – a volcanic explosion of concrete, glass, steel, brick and wood!
From sacred sites to suburban substations, a rollercoaster ride through provincial style.
Softcover, 84pages,
B&W
148 x 210xmm – landscape
£10 well spent – be quick these will fly!
Here we were in 2016 – the last gasp of businesses on the square.
A hangover from the optimism of a long lost decade.
Returning in 2018 to find the shops all shut
In 2019 the grass now fills up the cracks.
April 2023 and the shops and homes are being prepared for demolition.
The company responsible for the demolition also dropped the Robert Tinker, on nearby Dalton Street.
While it is not yet clear exactly what will replace the shopping parade, work has already started nearby on other projects within the scheme. The first phase of development in Collyhurst will see 274 new homes built in the area.
The council has pledged to reinstate the William Mitchell totem nearby.
However the weight of the concrete sculpture and its base have presented unforeseen challenges.
Siting a crane above the Victorian rail tunnel is an issue, as is the cost, a quote for £100,000 was deemed excessive. So stasis is the order the day – the immovable object awaits an unstoppable force.
The sculpture is one of four around Manchester – the Hulme exemplar is long gone.
The Newton Heath and Platt Court totems are both still intact.
Welcome to my world
Won’t you come on in?
Miracles, I guess
Still happen now and then
Step into my heart
Leave your cares behind
Welcome to my world
Built with you in mind
Knock and the door will open
Seek and you will find
Ask and you’ll be given
The key to this world of mine
I’ll be waiting here
With my arms unfurled
Waiting just for you
Welcome to my world
This is a lost island of intertwined histories – of a father, family and friends.
It contained a lovingly collected, indiscriminate agglomeration of all sorts.
Printed ephemera, faded photos and souvenirs galore.
There’s nothing left for me
Of days that used to be
They’re just a memory among my souvenirs
Some letters sad and blue
A photograph or two
I see a rose from you among my souvenirs
A few more tokens rest within my treasure chest
And though they do their best to give me consolation
I count them all apart, and as the teardrops start
I find a broken heart among my souvenirs
Bernard Smith was a bricky, known as Bernard the Bricky and also known as Joe.
So Joe built himself a party garage, to be shared with pals rather than cars.
A sangria Shangri-La.
It became a palace of fun for family and friends alike.
Joe died in 2014, but the fun carried on – but now the house has been sold.
My thanks to Bernard’s daughter Fiona for inviting me to record her dad’s den.
The party’s over and the palace’s treasure is off elsewhere.
The party’s over
It’s time to call it a day
They’ve burst your pretty balloon
And taken the moon away
It’s time to wind up the masquerade
The weir and former causeway stands across the River Dee. It was originally built in 1093 by Hugh Lupus, first Earl of Chester. It was built for St Werburgh’s Benedictine Abbey – now Chester Cathedral. It channelled the water to allow it to power a series of mills along the Dee. These mills were amongst the largest and most valuable in England during the 13th century. They were in use until 1910.
The weir was restored in the early 20th century to serve the City Council’s hydro-electric power station
Chester generated its own clean carbon-free electricity for almost half of the city’s needs from the hydroelectric building on Castle Drive between 1914 and 1949.
From 1932 the city was buying electricity from the Central Electricity Board’s embryonic national grid in order to cope with demand which grew to over 23,000 consumers by 1946.
The Hydro Electric Station on the River Dee is a Grade II listed building.
Photo: Len Morgan
At nationalisation in 1948 the corporation’s system came under the Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board – Manweb, which in 1968–70 built its administrative headquarters in Sealand Road. The buildings had as their centrepiece a seven-storey Y-plan office block, which dominated the skyline looking west from the city centre until it was demolished in the 1990s.
I was wandering the streets of Chester when I came upon this decorated doorway in Newgate Street.
In consultation with the current owners panda mami – we concurred that the building was once in service to the electrical generating industry.
Architecturally pre-National Grid, this implies that it would have been part of Chester’s independent provision.
It can be seen in the top left of this archive photograph.
Electricity House in the days of Chester Corporation Electricity Department.
Later subsumed by MANWEB.
My thanks to Richard Brook aka Mainstream Modern for his invaluable research
The building has the most shockingly assertive Futurist emblems embedded within the window grilles.
Any work of art that lacks a sense of aggression can never be a masterpiece.
If she’s put together fine and she’s reading my mind
I can’t stop I can’t stop myself
Lightning is striking again
Lightning is striking again and again and again and again
Lou Christie and Twyla Herbert
The arch above the entrance is adorned with these carved stone electrical emblems – also rendered in the Futurist Moderne manner.
The pumping house is to become a visitor’s centre – named the Hydro Hub.
Singin through you to me
Thunderbolts caught easily
Shouts the truth peacefully
Electricity
Don van Vliet
Architects: Austin Smith Lord
We begin at the Railway Station – recently refurbished, overwriting its 60s iteration – completely rebuilt by the architect Ray Moorcroft as part of the modernisation programme which saw the West Coast Main Line electrified.
Across the way an enormous brick clad multi-storey car park – skirted by the lines for the tram, which travels to and from Birmingham.
Walk across the brand new pedestrian footbridge over the ring road.
Architectural glass artist Kate Maestri was commissioned to produce the artwork design which features glass with blue and green strips of colour running through it.
Architects: Austin Smith Lord
Linking the Rail Station with the brand new Bus Station.
The normal practice of the Wolverhampton Bus Service is to have dirty, smelly buses, that are cramped and extremely hot in the summer and freezing cold in winter. They offer no announcements apologizing for delays they know about and don’t appear to care how long passengers wait with no idea of how or when they’ll be getting a bus.
The best thing you can do is learn to drive as quickly as possible and get your own vehicle or car pool.
Architects: Austin Smith Lord
Onward now to the Express and Star Building – Grade II listed.
Architect: Marcus Brown 1934.
The building is faced in a reconstituted Hollington stone called Vinculum, produced by another local firm, Tarmac.
A plaque commemorates RJ Emerson, art teacher and sculptor who sculpted Mercury in 1932.
Wolverhampton History and Heritage Society
Midland News Association managing director Matt Ross confirmed the company is now looking at the building’s future.
For a number of years we have been exploring opportunities surrounding our historic Express & Star offices in the heart of Wolverhampton.
After removing the printing presses from the site and restructuring our departments we now have significant spare capacity available and so are looking at the various options available to us, be that redeveloping the current site or exiting the building altogether.
Extension is by architects: H Marcus Brown & Lewis 1965
With further work at the rear.
Along Princess Street this corner group, with an impressive clock tower – originally HQ for the South Staffordshire Building Society
Architects: George A Boswell of Glasgow 1932.
On to the Mander Centre – opened on 6th March 1968, refurbished 1987, 2003 and 2016-17.
The Mander Shopping Centre in the heart Wolverhampton is your one-stop shopping destination for all things fashion, home, beauty, food and technology.
Architects: James A Roberts principal architect Stanley Sellers.
Developed by Manders Holdings Plc, the paint, inks and property conglomerate, between 1968 and 1974. The site occupies four and a half acres comprising the old Georgian works and offices of the Mander family firm, founded in 1773, as well as the site of the former Queens Arcade.
The Wulfrun Shopping Centre is an adjacent companion to the Manders development.
The Wulfrun Centre was built as a result of a joint project between Wolverhampton Council and the Hammerson Group – open for business in October 1969.
Piazza postcard 1970.
Architects: T & PH Braddock and also Bernard Engle & Partners.
Along St Georges Parade, an abandoned Sainsbury’s church combo – store designed by J Sainsbury’s Architects Department opened 1988.
The church was built between 1828 and 1830 – architect: James Morgan, at a cost of £10,268. It was consecrated on Thursday 2 September 1830 by the Bishop of Lichfield, it was made redundant in 1978.
The site is currently under lease to Sainsbury’s for a further three years and will come forward on a phased basis subject to their lease concluding. The council is in active dialogue with prospective development partners on the redevelopment of this site and in wider consultation with Homes England.
Back tracking to the Combined Court Centre.
Architects: Norman and Dawbarn 1990
Notable cases included trial and conviction of four members of The Stone Roses, in October 1990, for criminal damage to the offices of their former record company.
Thence up Snow Hill to the former Citizens Advice former Barclays Bank currently empty.
Architects: John HD Madin & Partners 1969
Take time to have a look around the back.
Off to Church Street and Telecom House
Sold for £4.25 million to Empire Property in 2022.
It had previously been sold for more than £3m in July 2018, also for use for apartments, to Inspired Asset Management which later went into receivership.
Located on a popular apartment block on Church street in the Wolverhampton centre, this 1 bedroom property has been newly renovated throughout and compromises an entrance hallway, open plan lounge/kitchen with in built appliances, shower room and double bedroom.
£650 PCM – Connells
Next to this modern piazza New Market Square – Architects: Nicol Thomas from a concept by head of planning Costas Georghiou.
Formed from the former Market Square, a mix of flats and shops opened in 2004, in an Italianate version of the modish school of streaky bacon.
In 2021 the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck visit to the Midlands was cancelled.
It was meant to arrive at Market Square in Wolverhampton at 11am today but failed to show up.
One fan had waited since 7am this morning to see the Coca-Cola truck.
While schoolchildren were left gutted when the truck didn’t turn up – and one boy had been so excited his mother said he had been talking about the red truck all morning.
Retail Market – Late 1950s market hall and offices above.
Architects: Borough Surveyor.
Excellent example of the Festival of Britain style of architecture, won Civic Trust Award 1960.
Locally Listed March 2000.
demolished January 2017.
Photo: Roger Kidd
This development that wraps itself around Salop, Skinner and School Streets appears to be of a similar period to the Retail Market – and sports a Lady Wulfrun in relief.
There is access to its roof top car park.
And also an exit back to street level.
Where we find at street level the former Odeon Cinema, opened on 11th September 1937 with Conrad Veidt in Dark Journey.
Architects: PJ Price and Harry W Weedon.
In October 2000, the former Odeon was designated a Grade II Listed building by English Heritage.
RIBA pix
In recent years it was a Mecca Bingo Club, but this was closed in March 2007 In October 2009, it had been refurbished and re-opened as the Diamond Banqueting Suite. In April 2021 police raided the vacant building to discover an illegal cannabis farm operating in the building.
Four men were arrested.
Let’s take a turn around the corner to Victoria Street where we find the complex of Beatties Buildings.
Architects: Lavender, Twentyman and Percy 1920’s – 30’s
The C20 Beatties store is a multi-period site developed first in the 1920s-30s. A Burton’s men’s clothes shop was built on a curved corner site at Victoria St/Darlington St and Beatties themselves replaced their existing Victoria St store in the 1930s with a building by local architects Lavender, Twentyman and Percy. Beatties later acquired and incorporated the Burton’s shop into their store. These two buildings form the locally listed building to which were added a mid-C20 extension along Darlington St and a late-C20 development to the rear at Skinner St.
An imperious Portland stone clad mixed us block on Waterloo Road, with a delightful clock.
Formerly the Gas Showrooms then Sun Alliance & London Insurance offices – aka Clock Chambers
The showroom in Darlington Street was also the centre of a radio network that controlled a fleet of service vans. This enabled customers to receive service within minutes of making a telephone call. Demonstrations of cookery, washing and refrigeration were given by the Gas Board’s Home Service Advisers and a number of the company’s engineers, who specialised in designing gas equipment for industrial processes operated an advisory service for manufacturers.
Architects: Richard Twentyman 1939.
Nineteen Waterloo Road latterly First City House formerly home to Eagle Star Insurance 1970
8-10 Waterloo Road architects: Richard Twentyman 1959 extended 1966.
31 Waterloo Road – Waterloo Court architects: Kenneth Wakeford, Jerram & Harris 1972
Right turn to the Telephone Exchange
Architects: NHA Gallagher of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works and Clifford Culpin & Partners job architect Leslie Parrett 1971.
Around the bend to The Halls – once the Civic Halls.
Architects: Lyons and Israel 1936-38
Refurbished 2003 by Penoyre & Presad with more alterations in 2021 by Jacobs consulting engineers.
RIBA pix – 1939
Over the road to the Civic Centre.
Architects: Clifford Culpin & Partners 1974-79.
We end our Wolverhampton wander at the College of Art and Design
Architects: Diamond Redfern and Partners with A Chapman Borough Architect 1969
Huge thanks to Tom Hicks aka Black Country Type for his invaluable assistance.
Arriving at the station we begin our walk.
Turning left from the main entrance/exit – old collides with new.
The open arches of the defunct platforms and One City Place.
RHWL Architects 2016
The station’s Italianate frontage of 1848 was designed by the architect Francis Thompson.
As the focal point of the Central Business Quarter, City Place is the most sought after address for businesses in the City.
Taking aspiration from its rich heritage and industrial foundations, City Place is located at the city’s gateway, adjacent to the recently refurbished Grade II listed Chester mainline Railway Station.
Crossing the wide open spaces of car parking we come to the currently tinned up Charterhall House.
A huge slab of half-hearted provincial Postmodernism.
Lloyds’ Chester staff relocated to Cawley House at Chester Business Park in 2019.
The site – offers potential for a new owner to refurbish or redevelop the properties for a variety of uses including residential and leisure, subject to planning, according to CBRE.
Backtracking we come to Hallmark Hotel The Queen.
Former North West Securities HQ. elegant 1960s tower of 7 storeys – brick clad, with curtain wall glazing panels in part. Short elevation to street frontage with strong vertical emphasis provided by full height continuous window slots, set in projected concrete frame, tiled panels below each window.
Complete with coloured aggregate panels and novelty entrance, incorporating a double thistle motif.
To the left an almost incongruous group of industrial buildings, one with a delightfully rounded corrugated iron roof.
A familiar sight on our streets the PFI Job Centre – Chantry House.
The private finance initiative PFI is a procurement method which uses private sector investment in order to deliver public sector infrastructure and/or services according to a specification defined by the public sector.
Around the corner to the Ebenzer Baptist Church
The church is adjacent to three eleven storey blocks containing one hundred and eighty dwellings –Thackery Towers, Rowlands Heights and Haygarth Heights.
Seen here in 1987 – building contractor: Shepherd 1961
Over the way now to St Oswald’s Court and St Anne’s Court Wimpey 1961.
Passing by Pacinos:
Over thirty years Pacino’s, Chester has been delighting customers with it’s intimate atmosphere, friendly service and consistently outstanding food.
Admirable ribbed concrete angled balconies.
Onward now to the Northgate Leisure Centre built in 1977 on the site of the former Chester Northgate railway station – which closed on October 6th 1969
Architects: Building Design Partnership
Much of the hard landscaping is still intact.
To the centre of the city and Centurion House.
Architect: Robin Clayton 1970.
Just down the way to the former Odeon Cinema opened on Saturday 3rd October 1936.
Architects: Robert Bullivant an associate of the Harry Weedon practice.
Extended and rebranded as Storyhouse cultural centre.
Architects: Bennetts Associates 2017 – Arch Daily
Around the corner and under through Trinity Street.
Council owned office block Hamilton House.
The Gateway Theatre was opened: Friday 22nd November 1968, closed: Saturday 22nd February 2020.
Architect: Martin Graden of Michael Lyell Associates.
Demolition pending.
Goldsmith House Register Office.
The Forum Shopping Centre in Chester will close for good on New Year’s Eve.
The site will shut its doors on December 31st having been open since 1967 and refurbished in 1995.
The closure is part of the regeneration of the Northgate area of the city, which saw the recent opening of the new market and associated car park. Cheshire West and Chester Council confirmed it would be ‘exploring potential development options’ for the site ‘in the context of the wider review of the One City Plan for Chester’.
Let’s take a look in the subways.
Onward to the Bus Interchange opened 30th May 2017.
The bus station has thirteen stances, and is designed to handle 156 buses per hour. It was designed by Jefferson Sheard Architects. It has been noted for its exceptional accessibility. Features include a Changing Places toilet, a tactile map endorsed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and a dual-height customer service desk.
Landscaping by HLM Architects.
A lost cinema with a historicist mock Tudor elevation and bulky brick behind – the former Gaumont.
Architect: William T Benslyn of Birmingham.
Opened – Monday 2nd March 1931.
Closed as a cinema, Saturday 9th December 1961, internally restructured, firstly to accommodate ten pin bowling/then a bingo hall.
Building now closed.
Further adventure in the subways with recent interventions to the landscaping.
We are planting real trees as part of the biodiversity relandscaping across the site. We hope the magnificent recycled steel structures will become an awe-inspiring beacon for transformation in the city of Chester. Educational interpretation and learning spaces around the site, supported by the visual impact of the SuperTrees, will educate visitors about the ecological crisis, and inspire them to make their own spaces biodiversity friendly.
The three murals have been made possible thanks to funding from the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire and the Safer Streets project and delivered by the team at Forest City Projects CIC in partnership with Cheshire West and Chester Council.
Back into the city centre to see the former ABC Regal cinema.
Architect: Willam R Glenn
Opened: Saturday 30th October 1937.
Closed: Sunday 16th December 10 with Ghost in screen one and Exorcist 3 in screen two.
Peter Davies writes – one of the most splendid ornate super cinemas in the city, the crown would be placed between the Gaumont or the Regal with locals arguing among themselves which was the most luxurious. Remembering them both well and working at the ABC Regal I would say without doubt that the latter was worthy of the crown.The wide auditorium and magnificent proscenium out shone the likes of the Odeon Leicester Square with ease. Everything within this cinema was of the finest quality and in the best of taste. It was one of the few triple A rated ABC cinemas.
Gutted.
Up around the bend to the Pepper Street car park.
The figure of a lion at its highest point, this site was originally occupied by the 19th-century Lion Brewery, and following its demolition a home was sought for its lion sculpture.
Modern Mooch 