It's Elfin's Tuesday Architectural Appreciation thread! This week: Survival.

Seems appropriate I think. Good call by Harry Spider.

So, this week, it’s all about buildings that have survived; escaped demolition, been renovated, saved from demolition etc. Buildings that had outlived their original purpose, were redundant, but have bin resurrected and live on.

And I’ll take this opportunity to ask anyone who enjoys this thread to please give whatever you can to a fantastic charity.

http://www.justgiving.com/TeamBullheart

Because there’s no reason to stop giving, ever.

I’l kick off then; Tower House, Whitechapel. Once the home to such luminaries as George Orwell and Joseph Stalin. Lay empty for many years, inhabited only by rats and some tragically desperate drug addicts, then ironically developed into posh flats:

The ‘Metal Box’, Reading. Great bit of Brutalism, bin threatened with demolition for years now, still standing. I hope it will be resurrected, as it’s actually one of the best buildings reading has…

Cologne

St Pauls

I think a mention should go to Exchange Square in Manchester. Looking a tad untidy after one of our irish friends forgot his van full of fertilizer

Now tidied up a little bit

😀

The Manchester Post Box

The Midland Hotel Manchester

Saved itself and the surrounding buildings because, apparently, Hitler visited Manchester prior to the war and really liked it. He ordered the Luftwaffe to keep the bombs away from that area as once he’d occupied Britain he intended to use it as his Northern Headquarters

Wrexham Mines rescue station.

May not look like much but of great historical importance to the region.

Story here If your interested.

Can’t stand the club, but it’s nice to see the old Highbury Stadium still there (redeveloped into luxury flats surprise surprise…) as it’s a lovely old building. First ‘proper’ footy stadium I ever saw a game in too. 🙂

repost from other thread. The el djem amphitheatre.

Or for a different sort of survival, that of memory.

Manchester Central Station

From this

To this

To this

St Pancras

The old brick shitouthouse herself.

No idea why it hasn’t blown over yet. There’s absolutely sweet FA holding up those chimneys.

And on a ‘Millenium’ theme:

Spillers Millenium Mills, Royal Docks; going to be developed into posh flats, apparently 😆 :

And this large tent was only sposed to be up for a couple of years:

It’s kind of grown on me, over time, I must say. Like a wart.

I’m not keen on this kinda thing me, turning Churches into Pubs, but this building is quite nice and is only a reflection of a ressurection in a totally different kind of light.

Park Hill Flats, with the now demolished Hyde Park flats behind it. There were 3 complexes (Park Hill, Hyde Park and Kelvin flats) like this built in the 50s to address Sheffield’s slums. At the time they were incredibly innovative however due to poor maintenance and build quality issues on some of these buildings mean that only Park Hill and a small part of the Hyde Park flats complex still remain. The site is undergoing a controversial re-development.

The entire complex

Europe’s largest grade 2 listed building during its facelift

More info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill,_Sheffield

There are far too many Mills in Derbyshire that have been turned into….you guessed it…posh flats. And it would be rather pointless posting all the images, but this one was derelict when the old family who owned it got prosecuted for manslaughter when a child of 11 was found working in the steam room, who then died in the belt drive.. Ewe.

The Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima.

Staggeringly horrific to think about what happened there, but Hiroshima has bounced back and is a wonderful city.

3 of us did a 150 mile bike ride across the south of England.

We had jsut one puncture, right next to these old stones…

Not too sure if this allowed on here, but it’s survived one or two skirmishes and the odd rebellion too.
Can’t say if it’s being re developed into posh flats sometime soon though.

This is near me, Hurst Castle on the Western Entrance to the Solent. It too has seen a few skirmishes and has survived. It currenlty is in the hands of English Heritage and sports a cafe so I guess it’s being used once again.

only meant to stand for 20 years:

The Temple of Hatshetsut (only female pharoah)

This was only meant to be temporary

The Pantheon – built for Hadrian – check that dome

El Djem….what a place!

The Albert, Victoria Street. Clinging on bravely amid modern horrors;

Bombs fell all around it in the second war, but the pub stood. (Sadly not a very good pub any more)