View allAll Photos Tagged Demolished
Squat, images taken prior to St Michael platz ones.
---walking by the place of the demolished wall, from bethaniemdamm to st michael kirche platz and heinrich heine str.
--Berlin im September-Oktober. 1990. Die Mauer war ein Jahr zuvor, und der DDR wurde nur eine Woche des Lebens, vor der Wiedervereinigung.
Berlín en sept.-oct. de 1990. El muro había caído un año antes, y a la RDA le quedaba sólo una semana de vida antes de la unificación.
Descripciones, etiquetas y comentarios sobre las imágenes son apreciadas y bienvenidas.
Berlin in Sept-Oct. 1990. The wall had fallen a year earlier, and the GDR was left only one week of life, before the unification.
Beschreibungen und Kommentare, auch Tags, zu den Bildern, sie sind erwünscht und willkommen.
Descripciones, etiquetas y comentarios sobre las imágenes son apreciadas y bienvenidas.
Thanks very very much to derteo for his priceless help to localize these images
[German translation by google step-by-step]
Demolished in 1931 to make way for the new magistrates court, police and fire stations.
Thanks to GM
June 6, 2021 - Former site of the original University of Iowa hospital, demolished 2020-21 and will become a park.
The now demolished Birmingham Central Library, in the city centre of Birmingham, West Midlands.
Birmingham Central Library was the main public library from 1974 until 2013. For a time the largest non-national library in Europe, it closed on 29 June 2013 and was replaced by the Library of Birmingham. The building was demolished in 2016, after 41 years, as part of the redevelopment of Paradise Circus by Argent Group. In 2010–11 it was the second-most visited library in the country, with 1,197,350 visitors.
Designed by architect John Madin in the brutalist style, the library was part of an ambitious development project by Birmingham City Council to create a civic centre on its new Inner Ring Road system; however, for economic reasons significant parts of the master plan were not completed, and quality was reduced on materials as an economic measure. Two previous libraries occupied the adjacent site before Madin's library opened in 1974. The previous library, designed by John Henry Chamberlain, opened in 1883 and featured a tall clerestoried reading room. It was demolished in 1974 after the new library had opened.
Despite the original vision not being fully implemented, the library gained architectural praise as an icon of British brutalism with its stark use of concrete, bold geometry, inverted ziggurat sculptural form and monumental scale. Its style was seen at the time as a symbol of social progressivism. Based on this, English Heritage applied but failed twice for the building to gain listed status. However, due to strong opposition from Birmingham City Council the building gained immunity from listing until 2016.
Information source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Central_Library
Lime Street, Liverpool, UK.
The white sheeting which had covered all the facade (scroll down) was removed on what was probably the last two days before the remains of the building were pulled down.
Haus Vaterland (Fatherland House) was a pleasure palace on the southwest side of Potsdamer Platz in central Berlin. Preceded by Haus Potsdam, a multi-use building including a large cinema and a huge cafe, from 1928 to 1943 it was a large, famous establishment including the largest cafe in the world, a major cinema and numerous theme restaurants, promoted as a showcase of all nations. It was partially destroyed by fire in World War II, reopened in a limited form until 1953, and was finally demolished in 1976.
Haus Vaterland[edit]
Haus Potsdam became less successful during the 1920s, and in 1927 was sold to the Bank für Handel und Grundbesitz, which leased it for ten years to the Kempinski family of restaurateurs. They had an exclusive contract to provide all food and drink and to manage the business, which became their flagship.[16][17][n 2] In 1928, the building was reopened as Haus Vaterland, based on an idea by Leo Kronau, who had visited Coney Island in New York and wanted to emulate the international attractions in the amusement parks there and improve on Berlin's own imitation, Lunapark.[18] He persuaded the Kempinski family, who had a 65-year track record of success as restaurateurs in Berlin, to convert Haus Potsdam into a Haus der Nationen (house of nations), and became its first artistic director, arranging entertainment to suit the flavour of each of the gastronomic units.[19]
The architect for the conversion, Carl Stahl-Urach, the architect for Fritz Lang's Doctor Mabuse films,[n 3] modernised the exterior by applying stucco and in particular by wiring the domed section to be illuminated at night as an example of Architecture of the Night (Architektur der Nacht) or Light Architecture (Licht-Architektur)[9] which also emulated Coney Island lighting effects.[20] The lettering around the rotunda was illuminated, and approximately 4,000 bulbs arranged in intersecting arcs on the dome turned on and off to create the illusion of spinning motion. A reporter in Germania applauded the "Babylonian dome" as irrefutable evidence that "here, world-capital life is pulsing."[21] David Clay Large describes it as "a beacon of commercial kitsch".[22] Inside, the cafe was renovated and the building extended and the cinema moved to make room for a new entrance block in the centre of the building; in the rest of the space, restaurants dedicated to different countries and regions of the world were constructed.[5] Each was decorated appropriately with dioramas up to 6 metres deep,[23] panoramas, and lighting effects, and served appropriate food; it was an early example of modern theme dining or experiential gastronomy.[24] While the main shows took place in the ballroom,[25] each theme restaurant also had musicians of the appropriate origins on staff to complete the dining experience, including at least six dance bands.[26][27][n 4] A central kitchen occupied the entire top floor, connected to the different dining establishments by pneumatic tubes, through which orders came up, and dumbwaiters, by means of which food was sent down and dirty dishes sent back up; conveyor belts at kitchen level transferred the dishes to be machine washed, dried and stacked.[20] The whole was run on American-influenced principles of industrial efficiency.[28] It published a house magazine called Berolina - Latin for Berlin and most famously embodied in the statue in the Alexanderplatz.[29]
It was an enormous and popular establishment,[30] and like Haus Potsdam before it, is frequently alluded to in both artistic and tourist contexts, for example in Irmgard Keun's 1932 novel Das kunstseidene Mädchen (The Artificial Silk Girl).[14] Its combination of spectacle, variety performances, international dining and cinema was unique.[31] Large sees it as having been "a kind of proto-Disney World".[22] The building could accommodate up to 8,000 people; the 4,454 square metres of theme restaurants had a capacity of 3,500 people and Café Vaterland was the largest in the world; the one millionth guest was recorded in October 1929, barely a year after the opening.[32][33]
Third Reich and World War II[edit]
In the Nazi years, the mix of restaurants was modified and the Jewish Kempinskis had to sell the building for a pittance to "Aryans" and leave the country.[28] A 1936 French film, Les Loups entre eux (English title: The Sequel to Second Bureau), features scenes in Haus Vaterland, including "the Horst Wessel song booming from the loud-speaker".[34][35] The business continued to host throngs of customers even after Berlin began to suffer heavy bombing by the Allies. In 1943 the building was damaged, particularly in the central section, in the raid on the night of 22 November that destroyed much of the centre of the city.[36] On 2 February 1945 it was bombed out, only the walls left standing.[28]
Under occupation[edit]
After the war, Potsdamer Platz was the centre from which the four Allied occupation zones were demarcated. The ruined Haus Vaterland was in the Russian sector, but had doors to both the British and the American. In 1947, Café Vaterland was reopened in an acclaimed gesture of will to rebuild the city, and in 1948 the Communist cabaret Frischer Wind was playing there,[37] while because of its position on the sector lines, it was a hotbed of spying, flight from the East, and black marketing in currency and goods.[28][38]
Destruction[edit]
The building was finally completely burnt out on 17 June 1953, along with Erich Mendelsohn's Columbushaus, during the East German strike and protest.[39] It was then left in ruins, the windows simply being walled up. It was adjacent to the Berlin wall after its construction in 1961.[28] In 1966 Der Spiegel described the desolation of the Potsdamer Platz during those years, with birch trees growing out of the rubble of what had been the busiest traffic intersection in Europe and kestrels nesting in the ruin of Haus Vaterland and hunting rats which emerged from locked S-Bahn entrances.[40]
In 1972, the Senate of West Berlin bought the building as part of 8.5 hectares of land to build a road,[41] and had it demolished in 1976. The 600 tonnes of iron and steel were sold as scrap.[28]
Ironically, when Potsdamer Platz was rebuilt after German reunification, the site of Haus Vaterland was the only parcel on which no entertainment facility was sited, only offices, because it was felt to be too small. The building abutting the square was given a semi-circular façade in homage to the round section of the building which had once stood there.[42]
Description[edit]
Haus Vaterland promised die Welt in einem Haus - "the world in one house".[43][25] Siegfried Kracauer said, "Haus Vaterland includes the entire globe".[44] He also pointed out the contrast between the "exaggerated" New Objectivity in the style of the "immense" lobby and the "luxuriant sentimentality" of the dining establishments as little as one step away.[45] He used this example to argue that the New Objectivity was merely a façade.[46] To Franz Hessel, it was a "perfectly planned city of entertainment" which demonstrated the nascent totalitarianism of "monster Germany".[47] Sydney Clark summed it up in his guide for British tourists as a must-see because it typified Berlin:
I can think of no better way to top off a Berlin night . . . than an hour or two or three in Haus Vaterland. The place is certainly not "high hat," nor is it low hat, but it is of the very essence of Berlin.[48]
The original attractions were:
Kammerlichtspiele im Haus Vaterland[edit]
The cinema, from about 1920 renamed UFA-Haus am Potsdamer Platz, was moved and enlarged to 1,415 seats in Stahl-Urach's renovation. The auditorium was strikingly modern,[23] on a circular plan and with vibrant red carpeting and gold-painted wooden trim on the seats.[3] It was one of five Berlin cinemas Sydney Clark recommended to the American tourist in 1933 as worth seeing (the others being the Titania-Palast, the UFA-Palast am Zoo, the Primus-Palast and the Phoebus Palast).[49]
Ballroom[edit]
The ballroom, also called the Palmensaal (palm room) was under the dome, and intended as a re-creation of the Garden of Eden.[50] It was decorated with silver palm fronds and sculptures by Josef Thorak, who was to be popular during the Nazi era.[5] Jazzmeister Bill Bartholomew led the house dance band[27] and the "Vaterland-Girls" performed.[33]Grinzinger Heuriger[edit]
A re-creation of a Viennese Heuriger in Grinzing, on the third floor. The menu included Sachertorte prepared from the authentic recipe; the Kempinskis had an exclusive licence to offer it in Berlin.[51] Guests sampled the new wine looking out at the steeple of St. Stephen's cathedral against a starry sky, and a tram with interior lights lit crossed the bridge over the Danube.[45] In the Berliner Tageblatt, the Austrian writer Arnold Höllriegel declared the place to be far more genuine than the real thing.[52]
Rheinterrasse[edit]
The Rheinterrasse (Rhine terrace) on the third floor in the circular section of the building, had a diorama to give the illusion of sitting outdoors overlooking the river between Sankt Goar and the Lorelei rock. A troupe of twenty "Rhine maidens" danced between the tables under hoops twined with grape vines.[51] Hourly thunderstorms were created by lighting and sound effects; one American visitor reputedly "beam[ed] like a movie theater façade on Broadway" when told about this.[53]
All this area is due to be demolished and replaced with a retail/leisure development and depending which report you read either new homes or student accommodation!
Chubworthy street was demolished in the early 1970's and a new council estate built in its place. The newer houses are in Knoyle Street and are still standing. The flood lights seen in the distance are From the old den, Millwalls football ground.
This photo from Plastic Plastic shows what replaced the houses. Who'd want to live in a tree lined street when you can live here.
www.flickr.com/photos/48814733@N03/7498190068/in/photostr...
Click here to see a pic of the sign in the lower right hand corner of the above pic before the park was demolished.
Newcastle Civic Centre is a municipal building in the Haymarket area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Designed by George Kenyon, the centre was built for Newcastle City Council in 1967 and formally opened by King Olav V of Norway on 14 November 1968. It is a listed building with Grade II* status and is the joint-eighth tallest building in the city, standing at a total of 200 feet (61 m).
History
Plans to build a new city hall on the site at Barras Bridge had been proposed prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, to the point of holding an architectural competition, although these were halted by the war; and due to post-war restrictions on capital expenditure, it was not until August 1956 that authorisation to begin construction was granted. During the interim period, the demolition of houses and a former Eye Hospital on the intended site was implemented. The building was designed by the city architect, George Kenyon.
The construction work, which was undertaken by Sir Robert McAlpine, commenced on the building in May 1960, and the foundation stone was laid by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Mrs Gladys Robson, on 30 November 1960. The total construction cost was £4,855,000. The building was completed in 1967 and was formally opened by King Olav V of Norway on 14 November 1968. Newcastle's Victorian Town Hall which stood in St Nicholas Square (between the Bigg Market and the Cloth Market) was demolished in 1973. On 6 May 1977, the Civic Centre was visited by the 39th President of the United States Jimmy Carter, who delivered a speech famously containing the Geordie phrase "Howay the lads!" A stone commemorating the event was placed in the Civic Centre grounds.
The council leader's office was used as a filming location by a Japanese production team in 2014 for a drama set in 1960s Tokyo.
Sculpture and art works
The Civic Centre is also notable for its modern sculptures, in particular the "River God Tyne" and "Swans in Flight", both by David Wynne and the seahorses on the top of the tower by John Robert Murray McCheyne. The cashiers reception of the former rates hall, now the Customer Service Centre, has two abstract murals by Victor Pasmore.
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.
Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, the settlement became known as Monkchester before taking on the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the industrial revolution. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it separated and formed a county of itself. In 1974, Newcastle became part of Tyne and Wear. Since 2018, the city council has been part of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.
Roman settlement
The history of Newcastle dates from AD 122, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or 'Bridge of Aelius', Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along the Tyne–Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall ran through present-day Newcastle, with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street, and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present-day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort of Arbeia down-river at the mouth of the Tyne, on the south bank in what is now South Shields. The Tyne was then a wider, shallower river at this point and it is thought that the bridge was probably about 700 feet (210 m) long, made of wood and supported on stone piers. It is probable that it was sited near the current Swing Bridge, due to the fact that Roman artefacts were found there during the building of the latter bridge. Hadrian himself probably visited the site in 122. A shrine was set up on the completed bridge in 123 by the 6th Legion, with two altars to Neptune and Oceanus respectively. The two altars were subsequently found in the river and are on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.
The Romans built a stone-walled fort in 150 to protect the river crossing which was at the foot of the Tyne Gorge, and this took the name of the bridge so that the whole settlement was known as Pons Aelius. The fort was situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the new bridge, on the site of the present Castle Keep. Pons Aelius is last mentioned in 400, in a Roman document listing all of the Roman military outposts. It is likely that nestling in the shadow of the fort would have been a small vicus, or village. Unfortunately, no buildings have been detected; only a few pieces of flagging. It is clear that there was a Roman cemetery near Clavering Place, behind the Central station, as a number of Roman coffins and sarcophagi have been unearthed there.
Despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and more populous than Pons Aelius.
Anglo-Saxon development
The Angles arrived in the North-East of England in about 500 and may have landed on the Tyne. There is no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement on or near the site of Pons Aelius during the Anglo-Saxon age. The bridge probably survived and there may well have been a small village at the northern end, but no evidence survives. At that time the region was dominated by two kingdoms, Bernicia, north of the Tees and ruled from Bamburgh, and Deira, south of the Tees and ruled from York. Bernicia and Deira combined to form the kingdom of Northanhymbra (Northumbria) early in the 7th century. There were three local kings who held the title of Bretwalda – 'Lord of Britain', Edwin of Deira (627–632), Oswald of Bernicia (633–641) and Oswy of Northumbria (641–658). The 7th century became known as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria', when the area was a beacon of culture and learning in Europe. The greatness of this period was based on its generally Christian culture and resulted in the Lindisfarne Gospels amongst other treasures. The Tyne valley was dotted with monasteries, with those at Monkwearmouth, Hexham and Jarrow being the most famous. Bede, who was based at Jarrow, wrote of a royal estate, known as Ad Murum, 'at the Wall', 12 miles (19 km) from the sea. It is thought that this estate may have been in what is now Newcastle. At some unknown time, the site of Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester. The reason for this title is unknown, as we are unaware of any specific monasteries at the site, and Bede made no reference to it. In 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson, the Danish Viking conqueror of York, led an army that attacked and pillaged various monasteries in the area, and it is thought that Monkchester was also pillaged at this time. Little more was heard of it until the coming of the Normans.
Norman period
After the arrival of William the Conqueror in England in 1066, the whole of England was quickly subjected to Norman rule. However, in Northumbria there was great resistance to the Normans, and in 1069 the newly appointed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines and 700 of his men were killed by the local population at Durham. The Northumbrians then marched on York, but William was able to suppress the uprising. That same year, a second uprising occurred when a Danish fleet landed in the Humber. The Northumbrians again attacked York and destroyed the garrison there. William was again able to suppress the uprising, but this time he took revenge. He laid waste to the whole of the Midlands and the land from York to the Tees. In 1080, William Walcher, the Norman bishop of Durham and his followers were brutally murdered at Gateshead. This time Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half brother, devastated the land between the Tees and the Tweed. This was known as the 'Harrying of the North'. This devastation is reflected in the Domesday Book. The destruction had such an effect that the North remained poor and backward at least until Tudor times and perhaps until the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle suffered in this respect with the rest of the North.
In 1080 William sent his eldest son, Robert Curthose, north to defend the kingdom against the Scots. After his campaign, he moved to Monkchester and began the building of a 'New Castle'. This was of the "motte-and-bailey" type of construction, a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (bailey). It was this castle that gave Newcastle its name. In 1095 the Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, rose up against the king, William Rufus, and Rufus sent an army north to recapture the castle. From then on the castle became crown property and was an important base from which the king could control the northern barons. The Northumbrian earldom was abolished and a Sheriff of Northumberland was appointed to administer the region. In 1091 the parish church of St Nicholas was consecrated on the site of the present Anglican cathedral, close by the bailey of the new castle. The church is believed to have been a wooden building on stone footings.
Not a trace of the tower or mound of the motte and bailey castle remains now. Henry II replaced it with a rectangular stone keep, which was built between 1172 and 1177 at a cost of £1,444. A stone bailey, in the form of a triangle, replaced the previous wooden one. The great outer gateway to the castle, called 'the Black Gate', was built later, between 1247 and 1250, in the reign of Henry III. There were at that time no town walls and when attacked by the Scots, the townspeople had to crowd into the bailey for safety. It is probable that the new castle acted as a magnet for local merchants because of the safety it provided. This in turn would help to expand trade in the town. At this time wool, skins and lead were being exported, whilst alum, pepper and ginger were being imported from France and Flanders.
Middle Ages
Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for assembled armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries – possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David 1st of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.
The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle, in 1174, after being captured at the Battle of Alnwick. Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town and Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century.
Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle. The earliest known charter was dated 1175 in the reign of Henry II, giving the townspeople some control over their town. In 1216 King John granted Newcastle a mayor[8] and also allowed the formation of guilds (known as Mysteries). These were cartels formed within different trades, which restricted trade to guild members. There were initially twelve guilds. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields.
In 1265, the town was granted permission to impose a 'Wall Tax' or Murage, to pay for the construction of a fortified wall to enclose the town and protect it from Scottish invaders. The town walls were not completed until early in the 14th century. They were two miles (3 km) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. They had six main gates, as well as some smaller gates, and had 17 towers. The land within the walls was divided almost equally by the Lort Burn, which flowed southwards and joined the Tyne to the east of the Castle. The town began to expand north of the Castle and west of the Lort Burn with various markets being set up within the walls.
In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, creating a County corporate which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a "county of itself" with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.
Religious houses
During the Middle Ages a number of religious houses were established within the walls: the first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present-day Nun Street. Both David I of Scotland and Henry I of England were benefactors of the religious house. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.
The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present-day Friars Street. In 1280 the order was granted royal permission to make a postern in the town walls to communicate with their gardens outside the walls. On 19 June 1334, Edward Balliol, claimant to be King of Scotland, did homage to King Edward III, on behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, in the church of the friary. Much of the original buildings of the friary still exist, mainly because, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the friary of Blackfriars was rented out by the corporation to nine of the local trade guilds.
The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order was originally housed on the Wall Knoll in Pandon, but in 1307 it took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present-day Hanover Square, behind the Central station. Nothing of the friary remains now.
The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle. In 1503 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, stayed two days at the friary on her way to join her new husband James IV of Scotland.
The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present-day area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. Nothing of the original buildings remains.
The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was on the Wall Knoll, in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls. Wall Knoll had previously been occupied by the White Friars until they moved to new premises in 1307.
All of the above religious houses were closed in about 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.
An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today as arguably Newcastle's main shopping street.
Tudor period
The Scottish border wars continued for much of the 16th century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against them.
During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).
With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the 16th century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.
Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annexe Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.
The plague visited Newcastle four times during the 16th century, in 1579 when 2,000 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.
In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.
Stuart period
In 1636 there was a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in Newcastle. There had been several previous outbreaks of the disease over the years, but this was the most serious. It is thought to have arrived from the Netherlands via ships that were trading between the Tyne and that country. It first appeared in the lower part of the town near the docks but gradually spread to all parts of the town. As the disease gained hold the authorities took measures to control it by boarding up any properties that contained infected persons, meaning that whole families were locked up together with the infected family members. Other infected persons were put in huts outside the town walls and left to die. Plague pits were dug next to the town's four churches and outside the town walls to receive the bodies in mass burials. Over the course of the outbreak 5,631 deaths were recorded out of an estimated population of 12,000, a death rate of 47%.
In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the 'voluntary' tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.
In 1640 during the Second Bishops' War, the Scots successfully invaded Newcastle. The occupying army demanded £850 per day from the Corporation to billet the Scottish troops. Trade from the Tyne ground to a halt during the occupation. The Scots left in 1641 after receiving a Parliamentary pardon and a £4,000,000 loan from the town.
In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time, Newcastle and King's Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try to replace that lost from Newcastle but that was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.
In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege, the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas's Church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town. The mayor responded by placing Scottish prisoners that they had captured in the steeple, so saving it from destruction. The town walls were finally breached by a combination of artillery and sapping. In gratitude for this defence, Charles gave Newcastle the motto 'Fortiter Defendit Triumphans' to be added to its coat of arms. The Scottish army occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years. The coal taxes had to pay for the Scottish occupation. In 1645 Charles surrendered to the Scots and was imprisoned in Newcastle for nine months. After the Civil War the coal trade on the Tyne soon picked up and exceeded its pre-war levels.
A new Guildhall was completed on the Sandhill next to the river in 1655, replacing an earlier facility damaged by fire in 1639, and became the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guildhall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.
Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1685, James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James' mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.
In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time, the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas' Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.
In 1701 the Keelmen's Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. The building still stands today.
Eighteenth century
In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century.
In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.
In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.
Newcastle's actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname 'Geordie', applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term 'German Geordie' was in common use during the 18th century.
The city's first hospital, Newcastle Infirmary opened in 1753; it was funded by public subscription. A lying-in hospital was established in Newcastle in 1760. The city's first public hospital for mentally ill patients, Wardens Close Lunatic Hospital was opened in October 1767.
In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in 1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.
A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Fenham Barracks in 1806. The facilities at the Castle for holding assizes, which had been condemned for their inconvenience and unhealthiness, were replaced when the Moot Hall opened in August 1812.
Victorian period
Present-day Newcastle owes much of its architecture to the work of the builder Richard Grainger, aided by architects John Dobson, Thomas Oliver, John and Benjamin Green and others. In 1834 Grainger won a competition to produce a new plan for central Newcastle. He put this plan into effect using the above architects as well as architects employed in his own office. Grainger and Oliver had already built Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place between 1829 and 1834. Grainger and Dobson had also built the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street between 1830 and 1832. The most ambitious project covered 12 acres 12 acres (49,000 m2) in central Newcastle, on the site of Newe House (also called Anderson Place). Grainger built three new thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street with many connecting streets, as well as the Central Exchange and the Grainger Market. John Wardle and George Walker, working in Grainger's office, designed Clayton Street, Grainger Street and most of Grey Street. Dobson designed the Grainger Market and much of the east side of Grey Street. John and Benjamin Green designed the Theatre Royal at the top of Grey Street, where Grainger placed the column of Grey's Monument as a focus for the whole scheme. Grey Street is considered to be one of the finest streets in the country, with its elegant curve. Unfortunately most of old Eldon Square was demolished in the 1960s in the name of progress. The Royal Arcade met a similar fate.
In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland. The Army Riding School was also completed in 1849.
In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or 'chares', destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.
In 1863 the Town Hall in St Nicholas Square replaced the Guildhall as the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council.
In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle. The bridge was built and paid for by William Armstrong, a local arms manufacturer, who needed to have warships access his Elswick arms factory to fit armaments to them. The Swing Bridge's rotating mechanism is adapted from the cannon mounts developed in Armstrong's arms works. In 1882 the Elswick works began to build ships as well as to arm them. The Barrack Road drill hall was completed in 1890.
Industrialisation
In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.
Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the following:
George Stephenson developed a miner's safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.
George and his son Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed Blücher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.
Joseph Swan demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the USA. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them, the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, known as Ediswan.
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.
William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.
The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:
Glassmaking
A small glass industry existed in Newcastle from the mid-15th century. In 1615 restrictions were put on the use of wood for manufacturing glass. It was found that glass could be manufactured using the local coal, and so a glassmaking industry grew up on Tyneside. Huguenot glassmakers came over from France as refugees from persecution and set up glasshouses in the Skinnerburn area of Newcastle. Eventually, glass production moved to the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In 1684 the Dagnia family, Sephardic Jewish emigrants from Altare, arrived in Newcastle from Stourbridge and established glasshouses along the Close, to manufacture high quality flint glass. The glass manufacturers used sand ballast from the boats arriving in the river as the main raw material. The glassware was then exported in collier brigs. The period from 1730 to 1785 was the highpoint of Newcastle glass manufacture, when the local glassmakers produced the 'Newcastle Light Baluster'. The glassmaking industry still exists in the west end of the city with local Artist and Glassmaker Jane Charles carrying on over four hundred years of hot glass blowing in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Locomotive manufacture
In 1823 George Stephenson and his son Robert established the world's first locomotive factory near Forth Street in Newcastle. Here they built locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as many others. It was here that the famous locomotive Rocket was designed and manufactured in preparation for the Rainhill Trials. Apart from building locomotives for the British market, the Newcastle works also produced locomotives for Europe and America. The Forth Street works continued to build locomotives until 1960.
Shipbuilding
In 1296 a wooden, 135 ft (41 m) long galley was constructed at the mouth of the Lort Burn in Newcastle, as part of a twenty-ship order from the king. The ship cost £205, and is the earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle. However the rise of the Tyne as a shipbuilding area was due to the need for collier brigs for the coal export trade. These wooden sailing ships were usually built locally, establishing local expertise in building ships. As ships changed from wood to steel, and from sail to steam, the local shipbuilding industry changed to build the new ships. Although shipbuilding was carried out up and down both sides of the river, the two main areas for building ships in Newcastle were Elswick, to the west, and Walker, to the east. By 1800 Tyneside was the third largest producer of ships in Britain. Unfortunately, after the Second World War, lack of modernisation and competition from abroad gradually caused the local industry to decline and die.
Armaments
In 1847 William Armstrong established a huge factory in Elswick, west of Newcastle. This was initially used to produce hydraulic cranes but subsequently began also to produce guns for both the army and the navy. After the Swing Bridge was built in 1876 allowing ships to pass up river, warships could have their armaments fitted alongside the Elswick works. Armstrong's company took over its industrial rival, Joseph Whitworth of Manchester in 1897.
Steam turbines
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine and, in 1889, founded his own company C. A. Parsons and Company in Heaton, Newcastle to make steam turbines. Shortly after this, he realised that steam turbines could be used to propel ships and, in 1897, he founded a second company, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Wallsend. It is there that he designed and manufactured Turbinia. Parsons turbines were initially used in warships but soon came to be used in merchant and passenger vessels, including the liner Mauretania which held the blue riband for the Atlantic crossing until 1929. Parsons' company in Heaton began to make turbo-generators for power stations and supplied power stations all over the world. The Heaton works, reduced in size, remains as part of the Siemens AG industrial giant.
Pottery
In 1762 the Maling pottery was founded in Sunderland by French Huguenots, but transferred to Newcastle in 1817. A factory was built in the Ouseburn area of the city. The factory was rebuilt twice, finally occupying a 14-acre (57,000 m2) site that was claimed to be the biggest pottery in the world and which had its own railway station. The pottery pioneered use of machines in making potteries as opposed to hand production. In the 1890s the company went up-market and employed in-house designers. The period up to the Second World War was the most profitable with a constant stream of new designs being introduced. However, after the war, production gradually declined and the company closed in 1963.
Expansion of the city
Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835: the reformed municipal borough included the parishes of Byker, Elswick, Heaton, Jesmond, Newcastle All Saints, Newcastle St Andrew, Newcastle St John, Newcastle St Nicholas, and Westgate. The urban districts of Benwell and Fenham and Walker were added in 1904. In 1935, Newcastle gained Kenton and parts of the parishes of West Brunton, East Denton, Fawdon, Longbenton. The most recent expansion in Newcastle's boundaries took place under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, when Newcastle became a metropolitan borough, also including the urban districts of Gosforth and Newburn, and the parishes of Brunswick, Dinnington, Hazlerigg, North Gosforth and Woolsington from the Castle Ward Rural District, and the village of Westerhope.
Meanwhile Northumberland County Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1888 and benefited from a dedicated meeting place when County Hall was completed in the Castle Garth area of Newcastle in 1910. Following the Local Government Act 1972 County Hall relocated to Morpeth in April 1981.
Twentieth century
In 1925 work began on a new high-level road bridge to span the Tyne Gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead. The capacity of the existing High-Level Bridge and Swing Bridge were being strained to the limit, and an additional bridge had been discussed for a long time. The contract was awarded to the Dorman Long Company and the bridge was finally opened by King George V in 1928. The road deck was 84 feet (26 m) above the river and was supported by a 531 feet (162 m) steel arch. The new Tyne Bridge quickly became a symbol for Newcastle and Tyneside, and remains so today.
During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon other British cities bombed during the Blitz. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the Luftwaffe, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.
In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King's College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status as Northumbria University.
Newcastle City Council moved to the new Newcastle Civic Centre in 1968.
As heavy industries declined in the second half of the 20th century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s was T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area survived and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Northumberland Street, initially the A1, was gradually closed to traffic from the 1970s and completely pedestrianised by 1998.
In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. The system opened in August 1980. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport in 1991, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.
As the 20th century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the 1980s both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. Local government produced a master plan to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area, partially returning the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long, was completed in 2001. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotates on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.
Recent developments
Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment, but just a short distance away there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas originally built to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. In the 2010s Newcastle City Council began implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.
筑波学園都市の退去が進み、取り壊し間近の団地。
An apartment complex is about to be demolished as people move out of Tsukuba Science City.
Some of this 1987 scene, looking up the High Street from the end of Burnside Street, is already 'Old Lochee': the street has been redesigned, while most of the seventies shopping centre (latterly re-branded as 'Highgate') has been demolished.
When I was at Burnt Oak Junior school some 34 years ago me and my class took swimming lessons here. The changing rooms were reached by subterranean tunnels, male on left female on right. I can remember sitting on the upper right spectator wing during the summer cheering the school team who were participating in an event which involved jumping into the pool wearing pyjamas over their swimming costumes and swimming to the other end whilst taking their pyjamas off at sections of the pool marked by floating coloured {Colored} booms. The wings were located upstairs where the double doors are at the sides. The building was a cinema until a new one {Now closed} opened in the high street. The extra room on the roof where the xpelair extractor {Exhaust} fan is was part of the projection room. The large, concreted section in the upper centre between the double doors used to be a window looking into the upstairs gym. The building/Facade now belongs to a dance school but to date nothing has happened on the site. They are probably waiting for the listed façade to become dangerous so they can demolish it and build something new. Since this picture was taken the building has been put up for sale for £19,000. As of 2022 the building has now been demolished and a new cinema and apartment/ Flat block is being built.
When it was new and beautiful. Now it's long-abandoned, and parts have been demolished. My photos (exterior and interior) of many visits here, including the now-demolished sections, are here: www.flickr.com/photos/katherineofchicago/sets/72157603381...
View Large.
Three days after I took these photos it burned down and has since been demolished.
The story's so old it should be set to music.
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It WAS arson.
What a surprise !!!
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/fire-former-c...
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I loved this unusual building, and I took these photo to show the side which had been hidden from view for years.
I thought the building would be kept with the side hidden from view (again) next to the new stuff. (There is a new "development" on the site next door).
No such luck..
Built between 1894 and 1900.
Very small for a warehouse.
Gore's Directory for 1900 lists number 5 as J Storrow, master carter.
In the 1930s it was occupied by Smart Brothers Ltd., house furnishers, who had their shop at 100 Bold Street.
Finally, it was part of Cream nightclub.
筑波学園都市の退去が進み、取り壊し間近の団地。
An apartment complex is about to be demolished as people move out of Tsukuba Science City.
筑波学園都市の退去が進み、取り壊し間近の団地。
An apartment complex is about to be demolished as people move out of Tsukuba Science City.
About 157 slums demolished on 26.9.15
More info, pics, video etc here
joegoauk-pointofview.blogspot.in/2014/07/baina-beach-ille...
I don't know what this place was or did at one time but it was cool to look at what was left of its structure. I wish I knew what this particular spot of the building housed. The "foundation" seen in the foreground is about 9 feet high and drops into what is now green nasty stagnent water. I would have ventured down the beams of the foundation to see what was down those large pipes coming out of the wall but I didn't dare want to fall into that nasty water. I would have been nice to be able to get into the far back building. I looks like something that movie "I am Legend" would have been filmed.
The Peninsula Hotel
(Formerly the Gotham Hotel, the Nova Park Hotel, Hotel Maxim's de Paris)
700 Fifth Avenue at 55th Street (2 West 55th Street)
New York, NY
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- The Early Years -
In 1902 a group led by Henry R. Hoyt, known as the Fifty-Fifth Street Company, determined the best use of a site immediately across the street from the St. Regis Hotel (Col. John Jacob Astor's 18-story Beaux-Arts landmark) was a family hotel - to house many of the folks whose mansions were being demolished on Fifth Avenue. The hotel - The Gotham - was designed by Hiss & Weekes. The Gotham's limestone and granite facade was purposely lined-up with the University Club's facade which opened in 1899. The building was designed in a C-shape so rooms facing south would have a protected view over the University Club.
The architect's Beaux-Arts style 55th Street entranceway was designed extravagantly. Its capped broken pediment features the sculptured figures of Roman goddesses Pomona and Diana reclining on either side of the two double story banded Doric pillars.
Pomona, the goddess of orchards, carries a cornucopia and Diana, the goddess of the hunt, carries her bow and arrows. A characterization of Beaux Arts is the naturalism of the images - Diana’s hand rests on the formal building decorations - just as a real person sitting at that location would do. Unfortunately, Diana is missing her index finger.
The hotel was completed in 1905 and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1908 - mostly due to its lack of a liquor license. The Gotham was in violation of a restriction prohibiting liquor sales within 200 feet of a church - The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. The developers failed to get a law passed in the New York State Legislature exempting hotels with more than 200 rooms from the restriction. Not until the 1940's did the Gotham have a cocktail lounge. The New York State Liquor Authority states the 200-foot law is still in effect, but that court challenges have allowed the foot measurement to be made from the actual point of sale and not as the crow flies.
According to the NY Times The Gotham opened with 400 sleeping rooms, both single and suites. The hotel offered its guests the “Georgian Room” for dinner and entertainment. The hotel's name was derived form the nickname of New York City; Gotham City. A banquet hall and ballroom were on the second floor, while the third floor was dedicated to private dining rooms. The NY Times states “The furnishings of the Gotham, while extremely rich, are far from garish. There is not the slightest striving after gaudy effects, the whole atmosphere being one of good taste.”
The hotel had a complicated ownership structure. It was built for about $2,000,000 by the Fifty-fifth Street Company. Upon completion the NY Times speculated the principal owners of Fifty-fifth Street Company were the heirs of the late Mark Hanna, Senator Thomas C. Platt, James J. Hill and Thomas F. Ryan. Henry R. Hoyt served as the president of the Fifty-fifth Street Corporation. The day to day operation of the hotel was conducted by the Hotel Gotham Company, for which Henry L. Goodwin served as President. In 1908 the Knickerbocker Trust Company brought a foreclosure proceeding against the Fifty-fifth Street Company for $413,746 due on a mortgage and also the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company held a mortgage on the hotel of over $1,000,000.
In August, 1908 the NY Times reported the The Gotham Hotel was sold under the foreclosure to an entity known as Hotel Holding Company, with George C Comstock, the President. Hotel Holding Company selected William R. Wood and Charles L. Wetherbee, associates in the management of the Hotel Buckingham, to take operational control of the Hotel Gotham on a 21-yhear lease effective August 1908. They in turn appointed Frederick D. Wishard, formerly manager of the Hotel Astor, as resident manager at the Gotham.
The new operators thought they could make the Gotham successful without a liquor license by focusing on service and the food. The new operators denied there would be any attempt to operate an underground tunnel from the basement of the adjacent University Club for the transfer of alcoholic beverages to Gotham Hotel guests.
In 1920 Julius and William Manger bought the hotel for $4 million. The Manger Brothers also owned several Manhattan hotels including the Netherland (demolished - now the site the Sherry-Netherland Hotel), the Endicott, the Manger (now The Michelangelo Hotel), Martha Washington (now the Hotel Thirty Thirty) and the Great Northern (now demolished - 118 West 57th St - once a home to Jack Dempsey's Restaurant). In 1932 the Gotham entered receivership and was taken over by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The insurance company leased it to a Chicago hotel group headed by Arnold S. Kirkeby that also operated the Drake and Blackstone Hotels in Chicago. The Kirkeby group purchased the property from the insurance company in 1944 for $2,350,000. Kirkeby also owned and lived in the Beverly Hills mansion used for CBS sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies".
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An ad from the Gotham in the 1930's: "Delightful entertaining in the quaint Alpine Grill (Switzerland on the Avenue) the new Gold Room Cocktail Lounge with Raoul Lipoff and his orchestra and the splendor of the Renaissance Room Contributes to the universal popularity of the Gotham. The spacious rooms and suites have been tastefully furnished for comfort and luxury. Up-to-the-minute service and a delicious cuisine that is without a peer in New York. The sensible rentals assure not only a pleasant but also an economical visit. Single rooms from $4.00. Max A. Haering, Resident Manager."
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- The John Warde Suicide Jump - July 26, 1938 -
Twenty six year old John William Warde leaped from a window ledge of the seventeenth floor of the Gotham Hotel crashing through the hotel's 55th Street marquis and smashing on the sidewalk. Warde became upset in a 17th-floor room when he stepped out to the ledge beginning a 14 hour drama involving up to 300 New York City police officers and 10,000 sidewalk spectators. Warde had recently been discharged from an insane asylum. The incident was made into the 1951 film Fourteen Hours, with Richard Basehart as the man on the ledge.
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In 1955, Evelyn Sharp bought the 400-room Gotham hotel and the 350-room Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Calif., and the Saranac Inn in Saranac Lake, N. Y., for $16 million from Webb & Knapp Inc., which was William Zeckendorf's organization. Mrs. Sharp's hotel empire, which she inherited from her late husband, Jesse Sharp, also included at one time the Stanhope Hotel. The Saranac Inn closed permanently in 1962, and burned to the ground in 1978.
In 1961, Mrs. Sharp sold the Gotham and Stanhope hotels in NYC and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to Webb & Knapp Inc. for about $25 million. At the time Mrs. Sharp said it was time to get out of the hotel business and into the office building business. She negotiated keeping a rooftop penthouse home with terraces and her office which she maintained for several years at the Gotham. She eventually divested most of her real estate holdings, including the Stanhope, and devoted herself to charities in New York and Los Angeles and to her art collection.
Webb & Knapp sold the Gotham later in 1961 to a group headed by Alvin M. Greenstein, but leased it back for 21 years plus 16 renewal options. In 1964, Webb & Knapp sold its interests (the land under the Gotham Hotel) to Wellington Associates, a partnership headed by Sol Goldman (the biggest landlord in NYC) and Alex Di Lorenzo. Heirs to the Goldman and Di Lorenzo estates divided the real estate up based on coin flips. The Goldman estate retained ownership of the land under the Gotham Hotel.
- The René E. Hatt Years (Le Big Boss) -
A Zurich apartment and office developer, René E. Hatt built the 400-room Zurich Nova-Park. Opened in 1972, the hotel was the largest in Zurich. Hatt's goal was to create a meeting place for both locals and for out of towners. Some of his hotel concepts included a Playcorner, a Newscorner, Backgammon Club, a video room, a Psychology Center - a precursor to today's "life-style hotels". His guestrooms were designed with bathtubs near the bed, red carpeting and mirrors everywhere. Zurich people flocked to the hotel's health club and restaurants. The discos were kept busy day and night. Hatt and his investors, which included Arab money and German bank loans, were eager to launch an international hotel chain based on the Nova-Park Zurich's success.
In 1978 Rene Hatt had William Zeckendorf Jr show him around NYC looking at hotel sites. Sol Goldman owned the Gotham, which was operating profitably at an annual $2.2 million GOP. Hatt performed some arithmetic and offered Goldman $3.5 million per year (the lease had escalation clauses) for a 99 lease. The lease was signed in 1979 and Hatt set out to make the Gotham the best hotel in NYC. The hotel would be re-named Nova-Park Gotham; Hatt wanted it to be the fanciest in the world with six restaurants, 10 bars and a nightclub.
Hatt's initial renovation budget was set at $56 million. He raised $18 million in cash from his Arab investors and obtained a $38 million loan from Deutsche Anlagen Leasing (DAL). He shut the hotel down in January, 1981 expecting the renovation to last a little over a year. Hatt hired the architect Stephen Jacobs. Jacobs was the architect involved with the renovation of the Halloran House hotel (now the New York Marriott East Side). Structurally the hotel room count was reduced from 330 rooms to 255 larger rooms and the shops fronting Fifth Avenue were replaced with a Fifth Avenue Sidewalk Cafe. Three floors were added to the top of the hotel housing a health club, restaurant/bar, skating rink and swimming pool. Hatt wanted guestroom bathtubs placed in the bedroom and not the bathroom.
Some hoteliers were saying Hatt's tastes were abominable and some were saying he was ahead of his time. Because of constant change orders ordered by Hatt the project costs skyrocketed. DAL had increased its funding from $38 million to $55 million. By 1983 Hatt was asking for another $20 million from DAL to finish the project. DAL refused and took back control of the unfinished project when Hatt failed to make monthly payments to DAL. The majestic hotel sat as a boarded up eyesore for a couple of years as lawsuits were filed.
Once a strong industry performer Hatt saddled the Nova-Park chain with $250 million in debt and he was ousted as the company's founder. Briefly Hatt re-surfaced in 1986 as a principal of the shuttered El Morocco night club on East 54th Street.
The land owner, Sol Goldman paid DAL $35 million for their interest. Goldman put together a partnership consisting of himself, Irving Goldman, his brother; Arthur G. Cohen and William Zeckendorf Jr., Steven Goodstein, who will be in charge of further renovation, and the Southmark Corporation, which controls the Pratt hotel chain of Dallas to complete the renovation. The partnership would add another $35 million on top of the $35 million paid to DAL to complete the renovation (get the bathtubs out of the living rooms) and branding of the hotel to Maxim’s de Paris. Hirsch/Bedner was the designer for the new interiors.
The NY Times reported that Southmark Corp contributed $63 million to the group to purchase and complete the refurbishment of the hotel. Pierre Cardin would receive 1 1/2 percent of the gross as a royalty fee for the name Maxim's. The royalty fee was later reduced to being payable only after the hotel's debt service was covered.
Pratt had recently opened Maxim's de Paris in Palm Springs with his partner Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation of Youngstown, Ohio.
In August 1988, Jane Goldman, the daughter of Sol Goldman, announced the sale of the Maxim's de Paris Hotel to The Peninsula Group of Hong Kong. The price was $127 million (HK$990 million) for the remaining 90 years lease on the building, and not for the land itself, which the Goldman Family retains. The price paid per room is the highest ever at that time for a hotel property in Manhattan.
The sellers of Maxim's are a group consisting of the heirs of Sol Goldman, William Zeckendorf Jr., Arthur G. Cohen and Steven Goodstein, and the Southmark Corporation of Dallas.
HongKong and Shanghai Hotels closed The Peninsula New York in 1998 for complete $45 million internal reconstruction. The hotel reopened on November 1, 1998. In 2008 the hotel's rooftop bar, The Pen-Top, received an extensive renovation and repositioning to Salon de Ning.
- The Peninsula New York Operating Statistics -
(The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited Annual Report for 2010)
(1.00 HKD = 0.1285 USD)
2011 (six months ended June 30)
Occupancy Rate - 70%
Average Room Rate - US$ 681
RevPAR - US$ 478
2010
Occupancy Rate - 67%
Average Room Rate - US$ 715
RevPAR - US$ 478
2009
Occupancy Rate - 62%
Average Room Rate - US$ 683
RevPAR - US$ 426
2008
Occupancy Rate - 64%
Average Room Rate - US$ 814
RevPAR - US$ 520
2007
Occupancy Rate - 75%
Average Room Rate - US$ 812
RevPAR - US$ 613
In 1986 Robert Jean Berge was appointed the general manager. French-born, Mr. Berge studied at the Hotel School in Toulouse and the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. He later managed the La Mamounia in Marrakech. As of 2010 Robert Bergé is supervising the pre-opening and opening phases of the Mandarin Oriental Marrakech.
Berge opened Mediterranean-style luxury restaurant called Adrienne on the second floor overlooking Fifth Avenue. On a corner of the second floor, facing 55th Street will be a bar and a more casual restaurant called Bistro d' Adrienne. ''We will serve real bistro food - rack of lamb, comfit of goose with french fries, cassoulet,'' he promises.
Jacques Chibois, chef of the Royal Gray, a highly rated restaurant in Cannes on the French Riviera (two stars in the Michelin Guide), will be the consulting chef at the new Hotel Maxim's de Paris.
In 1988, Rocco DiSpirito went to work at Adrienne in Hotel Maxim's de Paris under Jean-Michel Diot and Jacques Chibois.
In 1989, Chef Grey Kunz moved to New York to become executive chef at The Peninsula Hotel's Adrienne and the Bistro restaurants.
As of 2011 the Peninsula's executive chef is Thomas Piede. He oversees the Fives restaurant, Gotham Lounge, and the rooftop bar - Salon de Ning. Piede joined Peninsula New York as Executive Sous Chef in 2003, and previously held positions at Aureole, and Le Cirque.
In May 2007 Robert H. Rechtermann was appointed General Manager, The Peninsula New York. Previously he was Resident Manager of The Peninsula Chicago. He holds a B.S. in hotel management from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
In April, 2011 The Peninsula New York appointed Jonathan Crook as General Manager, he previously served two years as the GM of The Peninsula Manila.
The Peninsula New York appointed Sharon Telesca Feurer as Director of Marketing in September 2011. She previously was Director of Marketing for Trump SoHo New York, and prior to that, she was Vice President of Marketing for AKA Hotels.
Text compiled by Dick Johnson. Photos by Dick Johnson.
December 2011
richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com
Edyth Walker Hall was a high-rise dormitory constructed in 1972, and housed a few hundred students in spartan accommodations on 9 floors. The building, having become functionally obsolete, was demolished in October 2020, along with the adjacent, and larger, Mary White Scott Residence Hall, built in 1969.