Historical architecture stolen by The Blitz 1940

[area 51]

Many nice old Sheffield buildings which survived the bombing were then torn down by the planners in the 1960s & 1970s.

 

I remember the big, imposing bank which used to stand on Commercial Street on the corner of Fitzalan Square, where Cooplands is now. Plus the Norfolk Market Hall on Pinstone Street. Just have a look at this little film (1960) to see the buildings at the top of the Moor / bottom of Pinstone St for example, which survived the blitz but were then demolished in the '60s & '70s in the name of "progress".

 

 

Wow, that takes me back seeing cars going up and down the moor.Funny isnt it but the concrete eyesores on the moor didn,t look as bad back then as they do now.

 

---------- Post added 07-04-2017 at 19:09 ----------

 

There's a saying, " Older generations built to last, today we build to rebuild within a generation."

 

Since the war,the council has done more damage than the Blitz, look what's been and gone in that time. Modernist 'architecture' has been revolutionary, not evolutionary, beginning with Soviet 'brutalism' which the council, after a visit there, imposed on Sheffield with the monstrous Park Hill flats etc..

 

Why do you think classic villages attract tourists, and calendars and chocolate boxes show old scenes ? It's because people have a 'tradition soul' which modernist 'art' ignores. Nations had distinct architecture, you could tell from a photo where it was taken, now, many world cities are looking the same, and why do these modernists have to place their creations deliberately next to iconic old buildings, hoping some glory will rub off ? The glass pyramid blighting the Louvre being one example, the delicate 'feminine' glass dome on the masculine German parliament building being another, they just love it !

 

Stockport and Halifax councils woke up in time, stopping further 'developer rape' which has paid benefits by drawing in admiring shoppers to both these traditional towns.

 

Modern architecture is cheap-and-easy-throw-away by comparison, but that's the thing, traditional buildings cost money and time, but it was money and time well spent because they endure and continue to please, hence the developing move back to where we left off.

 

Modern 'art' is the same, easy, no great skill needed, a monkey can, and has, done some ! The art establishment wide-boys promote this splodgy rubbish with big prices to get the "Oh, yes, I can see what it's supposed to be now " 'connoisseurs' to buy, whilst behind the scenes they're stashing the real art away in cellars. But we can't hide our buildings away, only demand they keep their 'projects' well away from them and let them stand or fall on their 'merit'.

 

I agree,west yorkshire has some beautiful old victorian buildings still giving great service after all these years.I never know what to make of modern art, it all looks rubbish,they say you neeed to use your imagination to see something.Perhaps it is because i have mild Aspergers but all i see is a pile of meaningless rubbish.

[samssong]

They are still at it ,The old historical buildings around Cambridge and Pinstone Street are in danger of demolition by the planners who think cladding with hidden lights shinning through is Architecture.

[Eater Sundae]

Many nice old Sheffield buildings which survived the bombing were then torn down by the planners in the 1960s & 1970s.

 

I remember the big, imposing bank which used to stand on Commercial Street on the corner of Fitzalan Square, where Cooplands is now. Plus the Norfolk Market Hall on Pinstone Street. Just have a look at this little film (1960) to see the buildings at the top of the Moor / bottom of Pinstone St for example, which survived the blitz but were then demolished in the '60s & '70s in the name of "progress".

 

 

Town is much busier now, with pedestrians, than it was then. Is the city centre really dead?

[area 51]

They are still at it ,The old historical buildings around Cambridge and Pinstone Street are in danger of demolition by the planners who think cladding with hidden lights shinning through is Architecture.

 

And all the new shops will be is probably a load of pound shops and pawn shops and the usual betting shops.I hate going into busy shopping centres anyway,i try to do my shopping when nobody else is.Is the old sally army building in danger of being demolished.

 

---------- Post added 07-04-2017 at 19:27 ----------

 

Town is much busier now, with pedestrians, than it was then. Is the city centre really dead?

 

It isn,t looking at its best at the moment.I very rarely go into town but i had to go to work on the tram a few weeks ago(car was having some work done on it) and i was walking through town at 6.30 am and the thing that struck me the most was the amount of graffiti daubed everywhere.The shop shutters were covered in it.

[Daven]

Town is much busier now, with pedestrians, than it was then. Is the city centre really dead?

 

No it isn't.

Many folk don't look above the shop fronts.

There are very many beautiful buildings in Sheffield - old and new - you just have to open you eyes and your mind.

[Eater Sundae]

No it isn't.

Many folk don't look above the shop fronts.

There are very many beautiful buildings in Sheffield - old and new - you just have to open you eyes and your mind.

 

I agree it's a good idea to look up.

 

Also, there are quite a few examples of building facades being retained and a new, more practical building created behind.

 

We have lost a lot of interesting buildings over the years, but we have retained many, also.

 

Also, although there are plenty of newer buildings that I don't like, I do like where designs are trying to be creative, even if I don't particularly like all of the results.

 

And what I find particularly depressing are buildings where no imagination has been used, a prime example being the Court Building at West Bar.

[Daven]

It was left derelict. That by no way means that it was past its sell by date, or else you could say the same about the Victorian part of that building (which is now the music school). Do you think that should have been demolished, or refurbished (which it has been)?

 

The University previously stated that it had reserved funds to restore and integrate the Edwardian building into a new design.

 

It was left empty when the new Jessop wing opened.

The Victorian part of the building has been saved but that part of the building was not the part that was being discussed.

So in answer to your question - clearly, no.

[drummer54as]

I agree with the OP. a quick look on picture sheffield, type in any road name you will see just how grand this city was. I think the council has allowed the majority of these buildings to go. The sheffield blitz took a few but way more have gone since and still are being pulled down.

Its a proper shame, most of the replacements of these buildings are now ready to fall down and look like crap even when they were new. Im not opposed to redeveloping a site as long as what is there after is actually an improvement and adds to the landscape/cityscape, not just a cheap generic throw up so someone can squeeze as much profit out of a site.

 

I quite like some of the modern architecture tho, as long as its a bit ''out there'' hate all these boring 'safe' student flats that are everywhere, they are designed to be enclosed as well, which just leaves dead streets with nothing but an entrance half way down, its like walking down a corridor in some places.

Some of the workshops/factory spaces put up in the 50's and 60's are actually quite interesting,for example the buildings on arundel street on the cultural quarter end would look pretty unique tided up. (Most are going for more flats ).

 

I still think the Victorian (and earlier) architecture with carved stone and ornate grand interiors etc are what should be saved as much as possible. We don't have many left in Sheffield at all. i really do recommend people check out picturesheffield and look at the detail in some of the buildings that have been torn down in recent years. It can never be replaced once its gone... is it really still Sheffield if the buildings and street scenes everyone remembers and have grown up with eventually disappear?... or is it just another gentrified city that happens to be in the north of england.

[Dannyno]

I don't care much for modern architecture if I am honest and consider myself more of a traditionalist.<Snip>

 

But look at it another way. "Traditionalists" are often not really traditionalists at all, but nostalgists for short-lived architectural fads of the past.

 

---------- Post added 09-04-2017 at 10:06 ----------

 

T Modernist 'architecture' has been revolutionary, not evolutionary, beginning with Soviet 'brutalism' which the council, after a visit there, imposed on Sheffield with the monstrous Park Hill flats etc..

 

This is not true.

 

Brutalism wasn't Soviet in origin at all, for a start.

 

Nor did the council "impose" "brutalism" after visiting the USSR.

 

In fact, according to Peter Tuffrey in his (unfortunately badly edited, but otherwise interesting) book, "Sheffield Flats: Park Hill and Hyde Park. Hope, eye-sore, heritage":

 

particulars were to be obtained about flat developments in Stockholm and other Scandinavian towns that had specialised in this type of building. p.28

 

So in fact in the summer of 1949, there was a council trip to Sweden and Denmark.

 

and

 

In August 1954, a Sheffield municipal deputation was to visit Denmark, Holland and France to inspect multi-storey flats with a view to incorporating in future Sheffield flats schemes any useful ideas they might pick up... The itinerary would take in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, the outskirts of Paris and Strasbourg. p.31

 

and, from the introduction:

 

References have been made frequently to suggest that Womersley [John Womersley, the chief architect] and his staff were following some Brutalist philosophy when designing both Park Hill and Hyde Park, I have not found any reference to Womersley even mentioning the word Brutalist. I tend to believe he and his staff were asked to quickly come up with workable ideas within the straight jacket [he means 'straitjacket'] of post-war building restrictions and a tight council budget. p.8

Edited April 9, 2017 by Dannyno

[Robin-H]

It was left empty when the new Jessop wing opened.

The Victorian part of the building has been saved but that part of the building was not the part that was being discussed.

So in answer to your question - clearly, no.

 

Then your earlier assertion that the Edwardian wing should have been demolished because it was an 'eye sore' and past its sell by date is a bit silly.

 

Both the Edwardian and Victorian Wings were left empty when the hospital closed in 2001. It wasn't until 2009 that the Victorian wing was done up by the University, so the Victorian wing was empty for many years.

 

The same refurbishment that the Victorian wing underwent the Edwardian wing could also have gone under. As I said the University had reserved funds to undertake this work should permission to demolish the building be denied.

 

The diamond could still have been built, as the Edwardian wing only took up a small proportion of the site (indeed early architects plans did exactly this).

 

If every building that was ever considered an eyesore through to neglect was demolished when they could have been refurbished, we would lose a hell of a lot of architectural gems in this country.