View allAll Photos Tagged clocktower
3 January 2009. Looking southeast along the towpath of Regent's Canal.
In silhouette: St Pancras Station spire; 'Gas Holder 8 ' and - just visible through the gas holder frame - the clocktower of Kings Cross station.
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Links
§ View on black.
§ My set of Regent's Canal photos.
§ Information and photos about Gas Holder 8 from Angela Inglis.
§ Angela Inglis website.
§ Regent's Canal set by Che-burashka (Katia) with her usual wide range from lush colours to dark hints of sombre stories.
§ King's Cross Station clocktower by Travis.
-§- Link not working? Please let me know by adding a comment.
The Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is a historic hotel structure at the corner of Oxford Street and Whitworth Street in Manchester, England. The building was originally constructed in segments from 1891 to 1932 as the Refuge Assurance Building.
History
Refuge Assurance Company
The first phase of this Grade II* listed red brick and terracotta building was designed for the Refuge Assurance Company by Alfred Waterhouse and built 1891–1895.[2] The inside was of Burmantofts faience and glazed brick. The ground floor was one enormous open business hall.[3] It was extended, with a striking 217-foot (66 m) tower, along Oxford Street by his son Paul Waterhouse in 1910–1912.[2] It was further extended along Whitworth Street by Stanley Birkett in 1932.[3]
What is now the ballroom was previously the dining hall for employees, with males and females being required to sit separately. Around 2,000 staff were employed. Women had to reapply for jobs if they married,[4] and some areas of the building were for men only.[5] The ballroom in the basment was used as a dance hall for workers in their lunch hour.[6]
After occupying the building as offices for nearly a century, the Refuge Assurance Company moved to the grounds of Fulshaw Hall, Cheshire on Friday 6 November 1987. The Refuge Assurance company had discussed converting the building into a new home for the Hallé Orchestra with one of Manchester's cultural patrons Sir Bob Scott for over a year. The £3 million funding required for the project did not materialise and the Halle subsequently moved from the Free Trade Hall to the new Bridgewater Hall upon opening in 1996.[7] Local architecture critic John Parkinson-Bailey noted that "one of the most prestigious and expensive buildings in Manchester lay forlorn and empty except for a caretaker and the ghost on its staircase".[7]
Conversion to hotel
The massive structure was converted to a hotel by Richard Newman in 1996 at a cost of £7 million, and was named the Palace Hotel, owned and operated by the Principal Hotel Company.[8] Principal Hotels was sold to Nomura International Plc in 2001,[9] and they rebranded the hotel as Le Méridien Palace Manchester. When Le Méridien Hotels faced financial difficulties,[10] the hotel was bought back by a reconstituted Principal Hotels in 2004[11] and again renamed the Palace Hotel. When Principal Hotels decided to brand all their hotels with their corporate name, the hotel was renamed The Principal Manchester, in November 2016.[12] The current glass dome in the reception area was taken from a Scottish railway station during the conversion to a hotel.[4]
In May 2018, the hotel was sold to the InterContinental Hotels Group.[13] It was announced in February 2020[14] that the hotel would be renamed the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in March; as part of InterContinental Hotels Group's Kimpton Hotels brand. However, the hotel was forced to close before the renaming, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[15] It reopened under the Kimpton name on October 1, 2020.[16]
The hotel is purported to be haunted.[6] One of the staircases is said to be haunted by a grieving war widow who committed suicide by throwing herself down it, throwing herself from the top floor.[4] The staircase in question was only accessible to men at the time.[5] Room 261 is allegedly haunted, with reports of the sound of children playing at night.[17]
The bulk of Clocktower House is demonstrated here and it has been called New Gotham's most hated building. Nicknamed the black box (as from a distance the windows disappear) it was built on the site of St. Francis clock tower. The clock tower was demolished to make way for the building. The New Gotham City Authority said the tower was standing in the way of progress and promptly built its headquarters on the site.
Erected on the site of the old Market Hall, which was demolished in 1965. Constructed in 1992 using local brick and features the original glass-dialled clock from the Market Hall.
In the days of the Friday pedlars market, the Clock Tower bell tolled at 10am and let the traders in. In its day the Caledonian Market was one of the wonders of London right up till 1939. Stories abounded of punters picking up priceless treasure for a few shillings amongst the old eggcups, odd shoes, false teeth and pieces of rusty iron. A famous racing tipster called Ras Prince Monolulu dished out winners for a price. HV Morton describes the scene in “The Heart of London” and tells of a friend who picks up an Egyptian Mummy for 10 shillings.
The painter Walter Sickert, who lived nearby, haunted the market and proclaimed that it was his idea of heaven.
The clock tower and its surrounding plaza serves as the focal point for old downtown Overland Park, Kansas. This is never more true than on Saturday mornings in late spring thru early fall when the adjacent farmers' market is open for business selling locally grown produce. And there's live, free music - often local (Kansas City) jazz stars. Great place to get out and meet people.
The very first convocation that ever took place in Bits Pilani! A splendid view of many convocants gethering at a single place with their graduation robes and caps on their nerdy heads.
This picture is dedicated to all the bitsian convocants who had a splendid ending of their Bitsian™ journey. :)
there were lovely buildings all over Kos. i think this is the side of the clocktower, with a plaque i can't read...
Commemorates the first coroner of the borough John Birt Davies, who held the office for 36 years.
The clocktower in Five Ways is Grade II listed, and is in front of 60 Calthorpe Road.
Late C19. Iron. Square box with Gothic-style blank tracery to each face. On it a column with a 'capital' sweeping out to carry the clocktower, each face of which is beneath a little pediment. Finial at the top.