Friday 5 October 2012

North Street - then & now

(Or, how to destroy an urban landscape in one easy step)

Early 1900s
2012

The Countess of Huntingdon's church provided an emphatic architectural punctuation mark in the scene, drawing the eye in and adding drama. The church was built in 1871 and the spire demolished in 1969. The resulting view is bland and uninteresting, notwithstanding that road-widening on the right hand side has revealed a glimpse of the red-brick Chapel Royal.

Other towns do things differently. In Horsham, massive development by Sun Alliance in the historic town centre, which required demolition of the redundant St. Mark's Church, was not allowed to include the spire.

The Carfax, Horsham
The spire was of no particular architectural merit but its importance to the streetscape was recognised and its preservation required by Council planners.

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1 comment:

  1. Gosh you must have gotten up jolly early to find North Street so empty (yes I'm talking of the now photo! haha) it rarely is that devoid of human life. I think I much prefer it then, than now, but I'm a bit of an old fashioned fellow at heart.

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