I found this architect's proposal the other day: ' Hornsey Road: A mixed-use development for the owners of a light industrial building in North London, this proposal retains the existing commercial uses to provide a platform for eighteen new apartments, arranged around an open rooftop courtyard.'
It came with pictures. They weren't informative. Look! There's a person about to climb some stairs. Plus, shrubs. Shrubs are important.*
I think the building it'll replace is this:
Maps from 1873 to at least the 1950s show a 'Steam Joinery Works' there. What, exactly, is a steam joinery?
Yeah, it's been abandoned for a while.
I wonder how playing in the shadow of that will shape the local kids. Will they find post-apocalyse sci fi comforting, or wrap themselves in florals and worry about slugs, or dream about Detroit?
I like derelict buildings, hell I like Detroit, but I guess that's a privileged perspective. If I'd grown up around them maybe they'd seem depressing rather than romantic.
Anyway, if you go for a walk north of Fairbridge Road you can witness an area changing fast from post-industrial ramshackle to shiny and new.
Many thanks to Ali at stroudgreen.org for showing me the maps, and to @Mizhenka for suggesting Fairbridge Road.
*See the stymied plan to turn the Shaftesbury into flats.
It came with pictures. They weren't informative. Look! There's a person about to climb some stairs. Plus, shrubs. Shrubs are important.*
I think the building it'll replace is this:
 | ||
| 'Steam Joinery Works' |
Maps from 1873 to at least the 1950s show a 'Steam Joinery Works' there. What, exactly, is a steam joinery?
 |
Yeah, it's been abandoned for a while.
I wonder how playing in the shadow of that will shape the local kids. Will they find post-apocalyse sci fi comforting, or wrap themselves in florals and worry about slugs, or dream about Detroit?
I like derelict buildings, hell I like Detroit, but I guess that's a privileged perspective. If I'd grown up around them maybe they'd seem depressing rather than romantic.
 |
| New in foreground, old in background |
Anyway, if you go for a walk north of Fairbridge Road you can witness an area changing fast from post-industrial ramshackle to shiny and new.
Many thanks to Ali at stroudgreen.org for showing me the maps, and to @Mizhenka for suggesting Fairbridge Road.
*See the stymied plan to turn the Shaftesbury into flats.
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