It's not just Bristol that has railway history under threat...just look what they're going to do to a large chunk of Camden Town, including the beautiful ox-blood-red Leslie Green station building, as well as the platforms and access tunnels. Built in 1907, it's survived two world wars, but nothing can survive "progress".
This redevelopment will also wipe out an entire block of Camden, including shops, a street market, and the Electric Ballroom music venue.
The official leaflet is full of crap about "the station buildings outliving their usefulness" or "being in a poor state of repair" (years of intentional? neglect...and it's a hell of a lot more solidly built than any modern construction), but anyone with a little intelligence would be able to come up with a plan to preserve the original building and still extend the station. It's sickeningly ironic that one stop down the line, Mornington Crescent has just been lovingly restored to it's original tiled and wood-panelled glory, and one "stop" north, the disused South Kentish Town station has applied to become a listed building!
It seems to me that anything historic is nowadays labelled as dated or obsolete...something to be embarrassed by until it can be demolished and replaced by the latest "state of the art" "landmark" constructions, which always consist of generic (world-wide) steel and glass flat-pack computer designed artistically and aesthetically sterile, character- and soulless monstrosities.
Can't they see that they're destroying the reason people go there? The ramshackle charm is part of the whole ambience of Camden...no matter what they say, a huge glass tower will NOT fit in.
Although it will bring big businesses and rich people to the area...
History? Nah. Money's the only thing that matters it seems...
Camden Town station demolition
Camden Town station demolition
Last edited by James on Sun Jun 13, 2004 12:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
It's true, it is very bad from an access point of view...when they replaced the lifts with escalators there was only room for 2 on the lift shafts' site: one up and one down. Considering it's such a busy interchange (4 platforms...Northern line Bank Branch AND Charing Cross branch up and down lines) it's wholly inadequate, especially with the level of use it gets today, and on Sundays it's exit only...meaning people have to walk to Mornington Crescent or Chalk Farm to get on trains.madhattie wrote:I've always liked Camden. It's my favourite place to go drinking when I'm in London, and I've played a couple of gigs in the Fleece and Firkin there too.
I like the old building, and can't say I'm impressed with this planned new one, but, I seem to remember that Camden wasn't one of the best stations from an access point of view? Or is that just my dodgy memory
Pete
Yes the station needs redesigning, but they don't need to wipe out an entire block. Perhaps the original lift shafts could be reopened for their original purpose, perhaps escalators could be installed at the other end of the platforms? A second high-capacity entrance/exit would instantly solve all access problems...maybe even a one way system using the two different ends of the station? Worked wonders at Oxford Circus, and the two original buildings are still in situ.
Some demolition would obviously have to take place, but nothing on the scale of this development. They're creating a massive underground void, just like the ones on the Jubilee extension...totally overengineered and pointless, and the current buildings have to be removed to be able to dig it. Naturally they have to build a lightweight structure that can span the void on girders, anything too heavy will just fall into the hole, hence the steel/glass tower.
There's a problem that needs to be solved, but these actions are far too drastic.
And money orientated, of course
Why can't designers respect historic structures and include them in their plans?
As you say, it's all about money. The new building is so much taller than what went before so will earn all that extra revenue than what went before.James wrote:It's true, it is very bad from an access point of view...when they replaced the lifts with escalators there was only room for 2 on the lift shafts' site: one up and one down. Considering it's such a busy interchange (4 platforms...Northern line Bank Branch AND Charing Cross branch up and down lines) it's wholly inadequate, especially with the level of use it gets today, and on Sundays it's exit only...meaning people have to walk to Mornington Crescent or Chalk Farm to get on trains.madhattie wrote:I've always liked Camden. It's my favourite place to go drinking when I'm in London, and I've played a couple of gigs in the Fleece and Firkin there too.
I like the old building, and can't say I'm impressed with this planned new one, but, I seem to remember that Camden wasn't one of the best stations from an access point of view? Or is that just my dodgy memory
Pete
Yes the station needs redesigning, but they don't need to wipe out an entire block.
Why can't designers respect historic structures and include them in their plans?
I don't mind new replacing old, but I think that some architects forget that we have to look at their creations for 30-40 years. There's plenty of buildings in Bristol dating from the 70s which represented what was fashionable then, but which the council can't flatten fast enough because they're so awful.
Yeah but attractive buildings from 100 years ago that were built with care and pride, with practicality and aesthetics of equal importance...they can't wait to flatten them either 
I find modern architecture so sterile...it's just designed by computers, made from kits, and nowhere has any sense of identity anymore as the same designs are everywhere.
Everything post-war i think hehe
I find modern architecture so sterile...it's just designed by computers, made from kits, and nowhere has any sense of identity anymore as the same designs are everywhere.
Everything post-war i think hehe
See, I'm the opposite! I love modern architecture. Things like the Lloyds building in London fill me with joy. In fact, the more a city resembles someting out of Mad Max or Blade Runner the more I tend to love it (cue Vancouver or Tokyo)James wrote:Yeah but attractive buildings from 100 years ago that were built with care and pride, with practicality and aesthetics of equal importance...they can't wait to flatten them either
I find modern architecture so sterile...it's just designed by computers, made from kits, and nowhere has any sense of identity anymore as the same designs are everywhere.
Everything post-war i think hehe
And I dislike it when buildings are 'protected' and the owners can't even change the windows or the shade of paint because the council will come down on them hard. Buildings were never meant to be museums, they should change as and when required to suit whatever the modern day use needs.
I'll get me coat...
