Andrew James Howe
Agent provocateur / James Street Station
James Street Station, Water Street entrance, Liverpool, UK.
There are two entrances to Merseyrail's James Street station. One's got ticket machines, lifts, a refreshment kiosk and enough Merseyrail Yellow to drive you mad. The other one, on Water Street, hasn't been updated for decades. It's accessed via a steep, gloomy tunnel, it's only open at peak hours, and was built in the 1930's as part of the India Building complex.
It is getting a refurb though, Merseyrail have applied to bring the Water Street ticket hall back to its 1930s finery. The mosaic tiles will be cleaned and regrouted; where they are missing, reproductions will be created. The unsympathetic flourescent lighting will be replaced with "heritage-style" modern fixtures. The Loop line era ticket desk, all blue tiles and stainless steel, is to be torn out and a more in keeping green wood and glass structure will be inserted in the gap......There is also going to be Heritage Posters, more in keeping with the 1930's Archiecture, and the long tunnel, wich has quite an incline, is going to be re paved, with non slip flooring (the tunnels proximity to the River Mersey, means it can have drainage issues!). On top of all this, there is going to be multi-coloured lighting in the tunnel for getting rid of that gloomy, dank feel, they've proposed something special. The strip lights will be replaced with coloured LEDs,
as you pass up or down the passageway you'll move through different sections of coloured light, breaking up the relentless slog and making the journey far more interesting.
Phew, now I'm quite pleased about all this, can't wait to see the Station when it's completed later in the year, the Architects are Michael Cunningham - the people responsible for the superb restoration of Manchester Oxford Road, so the end result should be really special, it isn't Grade II listed like the India Buildings, so I guess Merseytravel could have done what they liked,I'm really pleased about the refurbishment and can't wait to see it when completed.
Now, I thought that it was going to be closed when I visited, the refurb started a couple of days previously, however......it wasn't quite...I got in! Really pleased I managed to grab some images before it's closed for the upgrade, and I can also return when it's complete, and we can check it out after it's restoration :)
Have a great weekend everyone :)
f4/1/50th Second/iso100/Nikon D5100/Sigma 10-20mm lens @ 12mm
website: andrewhowe.4ormat.com/going-underground
Agent provocateur / James Street Station
James Street Station, Water Street entrance, Liverpool, UK.
There are two entrances to Merseyrail's James Street station. One's got ticket machines, lifts, a refreshment kiosk and enough Merseyrail Yellow to drive you mad. The other one, on Water Street, hasn't been updated for decades. It's accessed via a steep, gloomy tunnel, it's only open at peak hours, and was built in the 1930's as part of the India Building complex.
It is getting a refurb though, Merseyrail have applied to bring the Water Street ticket hall back to its 1930s finery. The mosaic tiles will be cleaned and regrouted; where they are missing, reproductions will be created. The unsympathetic flourescent lighting will be replaced with "heritage-style" modern fixtures. The Loop line era ticket desk, all blue tiles and stainless steel, is to be torn out and a more in keeping green wood and glass structure will be inserted in the gap......There is also going to be Heritage Posters, more in keeping with the 1930's Archiecture, and the long tunnel, wich has quite an incline, is going to be re paved, with non slip flooring (the tunnels proximity to the River Mersey, means it can have drainage issues!). On top of all this, there is going to be multi-coloured lighting in the tunnel for getting rid of that gloomy, dank feel, they've proposed something special. The strip lights will be replaced with coloured LEDs,
as you pass up or down the passageway you'll move through different sections of coloured light, breaking up the relentless slog and making the journey far more interesting.
Phew, now I'm quite pleased about all this, can't wait to see the Station when it's completed later in the year, the Architects are Michael Cunningham - the people responsible for the superb restoration of Manchester Oxford Road, so the end result should be really special, it isn't Grade II listed like the India Buildings, so I guess Merseytravel could have done what they liked,I'm really pleased about the refurbishment and can't wait to see it when completed.
Now, I thought that it was going to be closed when I visited, the refurb started a couple of days previously, however......it wasn't quite...I got in! Really pleased I managed to grab some images before it's closed for the upgrade, and I can also return when it's complete, and we can check it out after it's restoration :)
Have a great weekend everyone :)
f4/1/50th Second/iso100/Nikon D5100/Sigma 10-20mm lens @ 12mm
website: andrewhowe.4ormat.com/going-underground