The old Station Hotel, Stafford

Jonah

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
Modern architecture can be absolutely fantastic if thought is put into it. Unfortunately, in this country it seems the cheapest possible design is normally proposed and eventually built.

Faulty Towers springs to mind as does the Civic Centre (which the BC did admit was all they could afford).
 
5

52.8N-2.1W

Guest
bigbluewolf said:
Modern architecture can be absolutely fantastic if thought is put into it. Unfortunately, in this country it seems the cheapest possible design is normally proposed and eventually built.
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Big buildings couldn't be built "cheaply" in the olden' days as materials science didn't really exist as we know it today, so everything was massively over-engineered in the interests of safety which is why so many old and even ancient buildings are still standing and in every-day use today.

Today, a cost-focused contractor can type into a computer-aided-design package exactly how long you want a building to last and it will spit you out plans for a building that will last for exactly that long and then fall to bits.
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
bigbluewolf said:
A couple of places we are unfortunately missing now

S411004.jpg
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However was permission given to demolish this? It must have been listed surely?
 
Jonah

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
It must have been approved for demolition as the Civic Centre is in its place now.

Unfortunately, times, planning permission and attitudes to heritage change often, usually for the worse.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I understand that it was 'found to be unsafe' at about the time that 'we' wanted new Borough Council offices....
 
ATJ

ATJ

Well-Known Forumite
I'd love to get my hands on the idiot who authorised demolition of Stafford Castle. 'Unfit Victorian Folly' my arse.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
ATJ said:
I'd love to get my hands on the idiot who authorised demolition of Stafford Castle. 'Unfit Victorian Folly' my arse.
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TBF a lot of it fell down without anyone's help - as Sydney John Pickering (18), of 13 Turney Grove, Stafford - would no doubt tell you if it hadn't fallen on his head.
 
ATJ

ATJ

Well-Known Forumite
Withnail said:
TBF a lot of it fell down without anyone's help - as Sydney John Pickering (18), of 13 Turney Grove, Stafford - would no doubt tell you if it hadn't fallen on his head.
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My understanding is that the place was left to rot instead of being properly preserved because, despite all evidence to the contrary, SBC thought it was a folly. It was inhabited until the 1950s, where the felling of parts of the wood contributed to erosion and then when parts starting falling off, some moron decided the phrase 'making safe' meant half demolishing.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
The caretakers moved out in the winter of 1950/51. It was indeed left to rot, but Lord Stafford is more to blame for that. In many ways it was a folly, and when parts of it fell off, they fell on poor Sydney's head (killing him instantly, in the probably kind-hearted opinion of the Coroner), burying him under a pile of rubble that took ~30 men two hours to shift.

It is quite amazing that it was only half demolished, given the public opinion of the day - one idea doing the rounds at the time was to bulldoze the lot and build a new lookout tower so people could enjoy the sight of the new M6. Sh*t you, i do not.
 
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