Scarborough Housing

Posted on by modernmoocher

It’s 1892 and the Twentieth Century is about to overwrite the expansive green sward of Northstead and Newlands.

The Manor of Northstead consisted of a medieval manor house surrounded by fields and farms in the parish of Scalby in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The estate originally bordered the northern side of the ancient boundary of the Borough of Scarborough, following the line of Peasholm Beck. The estate passed into the ownership of the Crown during the reign of King Richard III. By 1600, the manor house had fallen into disrepair, being latterly occupied by Sir Richard Cholmeley’s shepherd until it finally collapsed

Wikipedia

Fast forward to 1939 and the building has begun.

Britain from Above

And here we are today give a take a day or two.

Walking the streets on a sunny Scarborough day, I was struck by the capricious cornucopia of interwar and postwar architectural styles. These are well kept well behaved homes, many of which were built as imposing apartment blocks, possibly for the seaside retirees, or the transient tourist.

The coast encourages a playful sense of design, referencing vernacular styles and including several decorative devices.

So let’s take a wander around, see what we can see.

It is with deepest regret that despite the best efforts of everyone involved, it has now been confirmed that Lynwood Convalescent Home will close at the end of 2025. Whilst it was previously hoped that Lynwood could remain open for a further period, unfortunately, there are insufficient funds required to keep the Home operating and a sale of the building is progressing.

​The Yorkshire Miners’ Welfare Convalescence Home charity who owns the home is continuing to support beneficiaries and staff during this difficult period. The trustees of the Home are currently discussing how the charity will use the funds from the property sale to support beneficiaries going forward and plans will be communicated in the coming weeks and months.  

​We fully understand the disappointment and impact this decision will have on our beneficiaries and staff. Please be assured that the trustees remain committed to keeping all stakeholders informed about the future of the charity.

22nd December 2025 for sale – offers over £630,000

Hi, there are a few point that we feel need addressing, the WiFi kept going off. Both shower heads were very high and we could not adjust them. The grouting in the bathroom floor was broken, which made the tiles loose and needs attention. The toilet in the bathroom was loose and felt insecure. The cooker was not properly secured to the housing, it felt loose in the housing. The TV kept loosing signal and the picture would break up – thank God for youtube, as that was pretty good

Apart from the points mentioned the apartment was clean and tidy and very nice.

Reviewed by S 4.0 ★

We have previously stayed at Manor Heath on four occasions and always enjoy it and look forward to our next visit. We stayed in apartment two, which was very comfortable, but would benefit from a coffee table or nest of tablets, so you could relax and put your drinks on it

Reviewed by Sharon 5.0 ★

Seaside Hideaway combines a fantastic North Bay location with comfortable rooms, delicious breakfasts and a warm personal welcome from your hosts, Jim and Sarah.

If you’re thinking about a spring break by the coast, take a look at our spring breaks in Scarborough guide for ideas on where to stay and what to do.

Seaside Hideaway

Penrhyn Bay 2026

Posted on by modernmoocher

Penrhyn Bay is a peaceful seaside town and residential suburb of Llandudno in Conwy County, North Wales, known for its scenic sand-and-shingle beach. Located east of the Little Orme, it offers coastal walks, rock pooling, and a quiet alternative to nearby bustling resorts. The area is popular for its local community feel, nearby seal spotting, and easy access to North Wales attractions.

Wikipedia

Like a moth to a flame, I’m here again.

Following several recent suburban posts in my local area, I decided to take a train to Colwyn Bay, in order to revisit an old friend, last seen in 2023.

The quality of light and the well behaved deportment of the houses and owners, exuded the demeanour of a model village.

There are new model cars, extensions, impressed drives, garden ornamentation, quirkily rendered reliefs and cladding.

Take a look.

William Mitchell Liverpool

Posted on by modernmoocher

Walking the streets of Liverpool?

Time on your hands wondering what to do?

Take a look at the work of William Mitchell!

Sculptor and designer, born in London 1925, where he continued to live. Studied at Southern College of Art in Portsmouth, at Royal College of Art and at British School in Rome; was an Abbey Award-winner. Went on to lecture widely and was a member of the design advisory board, Hammersmith College of Art and Trent Polytechnic. Also did work for Concrete Society and completed a frieze for Swiss Cottage Library.

artuk.org

First stop is 29 Hope street – where we have been before – william-mitchell-liverpool.

Federation House – 1965-66 Gilling Dodd & Partners

Originally home to the National Federation of Building Employees Investments.

Now how in part to The Shandon Bells – named for the chimes of St. Anne’s Church in Cork.

The church is noted for its eight bells, immortalised in the song The Bells of Shandon by Francis Sylvester Mahony. The largest weighs a little over one and a half tons and was originally cast by Abel Rudhall of Gloucester.

They first rang on 7 December 1752.

Church of_St_Anne Shandon

Curiously for an Irish themed pseudo-pub the exterior fascia is modelled on the Design Research Unit’s Watneys identity.

Here are some interiors of the then Coffee Moose from 2022

Next we’re off to liverpool-metropolitan-cathedral-of-christ-the-king.

The cathedral’s architect, Frederick Gibberd, was the winner of a worldwide design competition.

Construction began in 1962 and was completed in 1967.

William Mitchell designed the concrete relief below the bell, two front and two side doors.

Before the fire.

A woman has been charged with arson following a fire at a cathedral.

The blaze damaged doors and the gallery at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on Mount Pleasant in the early hours of 29 May 2022.

A 35-year-old woman was charged with arson and possession of a controlled drug and remanded in custody, Merseyside Police said. 

The blaze did not enter the main part of the cathedral but caused smoke damage inside the building. 

There were no injuries in the fire.

BBC

Rendall Building – University of Liverpool

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Rendall Building by Bryan & Norman Westwood, Piet & Partners 1964-6

Named after Gerald Henry Rendall who was an English educator and college administrator.

He was principal of University College Liverpool.

We have been here before at liverpool-university, exploring the space betwixt and between the two cathedrals.

On this occasion, I wish to draw attention to this relatively small but perfectly formed building – #432 on your maps.

Westwood, Piet & Partners were well-known architects during the post-war period in Britain and built a body of varied work including army barracks, retail and theatre design. An example of their work is the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne – Grade II* listed.

Photo Theolimeister

Originally built to accommodate the arts library and lecture rooms on the south campus as the University grew to accommodate larger numbers of students.

The current use as lecture and seminar rooms maintains the building’s use as a key learning space on campus.

Located in an area of the southern campus where Westwood, Piet & Partners designed four blocks resulting in a group which Pevsner described as the

Most coherent and satisfying part of the precinct. The massing and materiality of the external is complementary and respectful to the surrounding Georgian buildings.

Click to access University,of,Liverpool_Campus,Built,Heritage.pdf

Sculptural concrete panels above a brick base.

Between the concrete is ‘dalle de verre’ stained glass by Gillian Rees-Thomas.

she was also responsible for the side chapel windows at St Mark’s Broomhill Sheffield.

The courtyard contains a sculpture by Mitzi Solomon Cunliffe – The Quickening previously located behind the School of Architecture.

Somebody at the University of Liverpool saw Mitzi’s work at the Festival of Britain and took note. She was immediately commissioned to create three items for the University: a public sculpture to go in the courtyard of the School of Civic Design’s new building, a decorative sculpture for the inside the building and the handles for its front-door.

The public sculpture, is in the form of a hand gently holding a dove. It stood in its original position for sixty-nine years until sent away for conservation and then relocated across campus in 2020, to outside the Rendall Building.

The other sculpture that Mitzi created for the building is easily the spikiest thing in our art collection. ‘Loosestrife’ is a number of tentacle-like arms that intertwine and project outwards. For many it looks like an assemblage of golden deer antlers but it may be based on spires of the flower called loosestrife.

Currently on display in the Victoria Gallery & Museum

‘Loosestrife’ had been recorded on its arrival as being made of bronze and had turned completely black over the years, probably because it was hung in an area where students smoked back in the day. When it was removed from the School of Civic Design building in 2018 and sent for cleaning, it was revealed to actually be made of brass. It is very heavy and takes four technicians with lifting gear to hang it for display.

mitzi-cunliffe-behind-the-mask

Mitzi was also responsible for the door handles across the way at the School of Civic Design.

Green Pastures – Heaton Mersey

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Further adventures in suburban housing.

Here is my first day’s findings in the West Heatons – followed by the next day in the West Heatons, the next and the West Heatons Cul de Sacs.

And my startling evocation of Suburbia.

1892-1914

For my part I cannot help bur recall the TV show Green Acres whenever I pass by Green Pastures.

Eva Gabor preferring the glamour of Manhattan.

To the rural life.

Culturally and stylistically, Green Pastures sits somewhere betwixt and between.

In reality the fictional life of Green Pastures became Mulberry Close, in the hit TV show Inside No. Nine

Vinette Robinson, Reece Shearsmith, Adrian Scarborough, Steve Pemberton and Dorothy Atkinson.

So much for the scriptwriters wild imaginings, what does the road look like?

A broad sweeping swathe of tarmac, with a range of 70s housing typologies – wall less gardens, where grass becomes easily impressed concrete, gravel and artfully paved car parks.

Asymmetric roof, bedroom balcony with optional infill, ever more pointless integrated garage, as the inflated automobile refuses to fit in.

The ubiquitous carriage lamp, B&Q Georgian front door and hanging basket, all head up the relentless quest to defy period integrity, in favour of a free market, free for all of undiluted historicism.

The future and the past and the houses are infinitely all extendable.

West Heatons Part Four – Stockport Housing

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Following on from my essay on Suburbia and Part One of West Heatons Housing, here’s Part Two and Part Three

Taking in Mauldeth Road, Pinewood Close and Leegate Gardens

Mauldeth Road is lined with larger houses, Victorian and interwar villas, bijou apartments and the odd Modernist interloper.

Through the avenues and alleyways, home to those ever so tidy inter and postwar enclaves.

Where a mans gotta work out which side he’s on
Any way he chooses
Chances are he loses
No one gets to live too long

Though in my experience the converse is true, this is a mature community gently maturing, on the inside of everything.

Hiding what may possibly be hidden behind the hedge, though the privacy of privet is in retreat, replaced by bay, birch, holly and the extremely hardy laurel.

The left hand house has purposefully retained the original Crittall Windows.

West Heatons Part Three – Cul de Sacs

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High above the streets of Stockport – zooming in to a cluster of cul de sacs branching out from Tithe Barn Road.

Cul de sac translates as bottom of the bag, the French do not use the term, preferring voie sans issue, literally a dead end.

In the slums of New York City, on the East River just below the Queensboro Bridge, wealthy people live in opulent and luxurious apartments because of the picturesque views of the river, while the destitute and poor live nearby in crowded, cockroach-infested tenements.

Wikipedia

I assume that countless civic meetings and Estate Agents’ offices eschew the terminal term – dead end, in favour of the assumed elegance of the cu de sac.

Polanski’s second English-language feature, it follows two injured gangsters who take refuge in the remote island castle of a young British couple in the North of England, spurring a series of mind games and violent altercations.

Wikipedia

I was informed by a local resident that the streets and houses had been used by film crews, firstly for ease of access, the location being closed off, and secondly as the period architecture aligns perfectly with the current penchant for mid-century styling.

The End of the F***ing World 2017 – location unknown

Within the typology there area number of variants, bungalow, dormer bungalow, link detached, semi-detached and detached.

Very very few of the homes have retained their original features, the imperative of our age is to extend and improve.

There is a covenant in the deeds which prevents the building of border fencing – therefore the development retains its small-scale suburban American ambience.

The home below seems to have benefited from retrofitted green credentials.

Here is my first day’s findings in the West Heatons – followed by the next day in the West Heatons, and the next.

And my startling evocation of Suburbia.

Coincidentally, I wrote about Tithe Barn School some years ago.

West Heatons Part Two – Stockport Housing

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Following on from my essay on Suburbia and Part One of West Heatons Housing – here’s Part Two.

Taking in Thornfield Road, Priestnall Road, Beaminster Road, Mauldeth Close, Sunnyfield Road, Freshfield Road, Cavendish Road, Pleachway, Ranworth Avenue, Thornhill Road and Mersey Road.

Within such a tight network of suburban streets, restrained Modernism sits alongside the traditional semi, the grand villa and humble abode. A smattering of stained glass and an original door here and there.

One example of a curved Crittall bay, sitting next door to a distant uPVC cousin.

Hesitant examples of Arts and Crafts and hints of Tudorbethan, subtle shades of sub Lutyens, the odd Art Deco detail.

We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is that the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future, and think how we are going to arrange things over which we have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching. 

Blaise Pascal

Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.

West Heatons Part One – Stockport Housing

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Following on from my brief essay on Suburbia – here are my first day’s findings.

West Heatons Part Two – now available!

In 1896 the area to the east of central Stockport is a potpourri of emergent industry, railways, a river and agriculture – a product of the second Ice Age, the subsequent formation of the Mersey Valley and the Industrial Revolution.

By 1911 there is an expansion in the housing stock.

A comprehensive history of the area cane be found here.

In 1918, the UK property landscape was dominated by private renters, who made up 75% of all households. At the time, only 25% of the population owned their own homes. Over the next few decades, home ownership gradually increased, reaching about 38% by 1958. This shift was accompanied by a decrease in private renting, which fell to 41% during the same period.

The most significant growth in home ownership occurred between 1958 and 2003. The percentage of owner-occupiers surged from 38% to 70%. This period saw a corresponding decline in both private renting, which fell to just 8% in 2003, and social renting, which peaked at 29% in 1978 before declining to 22% by 2003.

Belvoir

More detailed analysis of trends in home ownership can be found here at the Office for National Statistics.

The pattern of home ownership has been determined by a number of factors –

The Property Owning Democracy –  Coined by British MP Noel Skelton in 1920, the concept emphasised the terms ‘property-owning’ and ‘democracy’ as a conservative response to left-leaning ideas of liberalism and socialism.

Right to Buy scheme, introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Housing Act 1980, allowed long-term council social tenants in England and Wales to buy their homes at a significant discount, fostering homeownership but drastically reducing the stock of affordable social housing, leading to ongoing housing shortages and debates over its legacy.

The Property Ladder which commodifies housing. Where once house and home were largely for life, the upwardly mobile homeowner wishes to continually acquire value and status through trading ever onwards and upwards.

Socially the role of the home has also changed over time, once a place to be outside of – working or playing, the home is now possibly a place of both work and play. A larger percentage of weekly earnings is now absorbed by housing costs, and the lure of the multi-channel Smart TV, gaming systems, take away food and supermarket lager, nails the residents’ slippers firmly to the laminate flooring.

This has gone hand in hand with the trend home improvements and extensions – fed by glossy magazines, design led property TV shows advocating a New England, Shabby Chic, Maxi/Minimalist Vibe.

Welcome to the new England.

It’s January 2026 and I have taken to the area between Mauldeth Road, Thornfield Road, Queens Drive and Didsbury Road.

What is actually going on in my locale? – The only way to find out is to go and take a good look around.

Symbol of middle-class aspiration, conservatism and compromised individualism, the semi-detached house is England’s modern domestic type par excellence.

Architectural Review

Semi-detached houses are the most common property type in the United Kingdom. They accounted for 32% of UK housing transactions and 32% of the English housing stock in 2008. Between 1945 and 1964, 41% of all properties built were semis. 

Semi-detached houses for the middle class began to be planned systematically in late 18th-century Georgian architecture, as a suburban compromise between the terraced houses close to the city centre, and the detached villas further out, where land was cheaper.

Although semi-detached housing is built throughout the world, it is generally seen as particularly symbolic of the suburbanisation of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Wikipedia

Curtis Road, Heyscroft Road, Brompton Road, Carlton Road, Fylde Road, Mauldeth Road and Thornhill Road.

So what did I discover?

The homeowners quest for the individual within a typology, no two doors the same, render re-rendered, period details largely erased, occasionally preserved, windows awash with white uPVC, along with the more recent incursion of one shade of grey, front gardens replaced by unimpressive pressed concrete car parking, cars and more cars, bay windows held at bay by red brick walls and well-trimmed beech hedges.

 

My pink half of the drainpipe
Separates next door from me
My pink half of the drainpipe
Oh, Mama – belongs to me

Viv Stanshall

Suburbia

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My baby takes the morning train
He works from nine till five and then
He takes another home again
To find me waitin’ for him

Sheena Easton

Welcome to the land of Terry and June – the seemingly complacent home to the newly aspirational classes, anathema to those thrill seeking Modernists, embracing the dynamism of the city, or those Ruralists protecting the integrity of the countryside.

Tradition has broken down. Taste is utterly debased, the town, long since degraded, is now being annihilated by a flabby, shoddy, romantic nature worship. That romantic nature worship is destroying also the object of its adoration, the countryside.

Thomas Sharp – Town Planner

Welcome to the land of the Lucie Attwell Bicky House biscuit tin money box.

The perfect model home for the modern model family.

In Coming up for Air, George Orwell describes a suburban road as:

A prison with cells in a row. A line of semi-detached torture chambers.

Literary London

The growth of British towns and cities, from the onset of the Industrial Revolution, created a demand for new homes, the earliest developments were close to the centres of production and administration. Followed by the creation of outlying estates for the fleeing middle classes, as the smoke began to billow and the trains and buses began to run.

Originally the work of speculative private enterprise, followed by homes built by the local authority along with charitable institutions.

My own experience has taught me that Suburbia is architecturally diverse, socially less so, as various areas are segregated by class, and perhaps less so by ethnicity and/or culture.

The majority of the population live in Suburbia it seems, there now follows a selection of the suburban sites which I have visited in the last ten years or so.

In search of Suburbia.

There are areas of Victorian terraced housing Manchester which survived clearance – such as Jetson Street in Abbey Hey.

Many early estates of the early Twentieth Century where heavily influenced by the Garden City Movement , exemplified by the Burnage Garden Village.

And similar in design Ford Lane Didsbury.

By 1931 1.1 million council houses were built and 2.8 million privately owned homes.

Post WW2 the emphasis was on an expansion of social housing, along with a growth in privately owned property – detailed information and analysis of social housing can be found here at Municipal Dreams.

These homes were at times both temporary and of non-standard construction.

This prefabricated house was originally built for the good folk of Doncaster, later finding itself in Humberston Fitties

These Wythenshawe BISF Homes designed by Frederick Gibberd, the so-called Tin Town are still very much habitable homes.

Likewise these examples in Hebden Bridge.

The Pre-Fab Museum is a treasure trove of information, along with Non Standard House Construction.

Post war development was inextricably linked to the New Towns.

The new towns in the United Kingdom were planned under the powers of the New Towns Act 1946 and later acts to relocate people from poor or bombed-out housing following World War II. Designated new towns were placed under the supervision of a development corporation, and were developed in three waves. Later developments included the “expanded towns”: existing towns which were substantially expanded to accommodate what was called the “overspill” population from densely populated areas of deprivation.

Wikipedia

One such New Town was Peterlee, in the north east of England, where I visited in 2021 and 2025.

Along with Cumbernauld in Scotland.

Cwmbran in south Wales.

In addition there are examples of European influence in the design of inter and post WW2 housing.

The Bull Ring Liverpool 1935.

Leo Fitzgerald House of 1940 in Dublin displays a similar European influence.

Corporation Street Flats Stafford 1951-52

Later examples such as Fort Ardwick in Manchester proved to be badly built and ill advised choices for social housing.

The Byker Estate has proved to be much more durable.

Whilst Park Hill has undergone a change from social housing to largely private ownership and rental.

The St Thomas Estate in Radcliffe, mixes the traditional terrace with a modern twist on social housing.

Private developers opted for Span style homes, such as these at Deneway Stockport 1964

Further afield in the former fields of Cheshire are the out of the way, not way out, Woodford executive homes.

In Heald Green we find the slightly less executive homes.

Even further afield the seaside enclave of Penrhyn Bay.

Prompted by a recent viewing of Graham Williamson’s Suburban film, I decided to undertake further in depth research around my own suburban locale.

Here is my first day’s findings in the West Heatons – followed by the next day in the West Heatons.

Shirehall Shrewsbury 2025

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Abbey Foregate Shrewsbury SY2 6LY

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Sir Offley Wakeman, a former chairman of the county council, on 25 July 1964. It was designed by Ralph Crowe, the County Architect, in the Modernist style, built at a cost of £1.8 million and was completed in April 1966.

Having visited and snapped way back in June 2024, I returned in October 2025.

I had been asked to speak to the Shrewsbury Civic Society, regarding the history of Modernism in support of their campaign to save Shirehall.

The previous County Council were disposed toward demolition, the current administration are a little more circumspect.


Shropshire Council is considering a return to its former headquarters, less than a year after it moved out. The authority moved from 1960s-built Shirehall in Shrewsbury to the Guildhall in Frankwell, and said doing so would save up to £600,000 per year.

At a meeting on Wednesday, cabinet member for finance Roger Evans said the Liberal Democrats, who lead the council, had paused the demolition and sale of the land, and may retain parts of the building – but only if it could afford to do so.

“We would like to retain the council chamber and some of the associated buildings, but we do need to take account for the cost both in cash terms and in net zero terms,” he said. “What we have done is paused this decision and asked experts to look at it again, look at the whole site, do a reappraisal. The results are just now being recieved.

“I want to keep it as much as we can afford, both environmentally and cash-wise. Whether we can or not will depend, the council is strapped for cash.”

BBC – 19 November 2025

We can only hope that this remarkable building is saved – minimising cost and ecological impact.

So take a look around on what was a very wet Autumn day.

Here is a previous post illustrating the building’s interior.

Dockland Liverpool

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1928

The days when a vast multitude of things came and went have been and gone.

The docks as they were are no more.

Yet in 2023, the Port of Liverpool was the UK’s fourth busiest container port, handling over 30 million tonnes of freight per annum. It handles a wide variety of cargo, including containers, bulk cargoes such as coal, grain and animal feed, and roll-on/roll-off cargoes such as cars, trucks and recycled metals. The port is also home to one of the largest cruise terminals in the UK which handles approximately 200,000 passengers and over 100 cruise ships each year.

Wikipedia

Now with the opening of the Titanic Hotel in the Stanley Dock and the arrival of the Toffees just up the road at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, the whole area is slowly being transformed into a destination, as they say in modern parlance.

However much of the Industrial heritage remains in various states of disarray, used and possibly disabused, but hanging on in there.

It looks like this.

Kingsway Tunnel Vents

Victoria Tower

Merseyside Food Products

Tate & Lyle Sugar Silo

Northern Quarter Car Park – Manchester

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Here we am again two years on, following my previous visit.

It seems that you are not long for this world – destined for an ultra elevated multi-storey heaven.

An eyesore Northern Quarter car park is to be demolished to make way for a new development. Four new public squares will be built, the council has announced.

MEN

Glenbrook’s proposal for the 1.5-acre site, designed by Tim Groom Architects, will feature 20% affordable provision, in line with the city council’s aspirations.

The new neighbourhood will also feature four public squares and green spaces, a flexible community and gallery space, and commercial units for local independent businesses and food and beverage outlets.

“The Church St site represents a unique opportunity in the heart of the Northern Quarter, a neighbourhood and community that is alive with energy and creativity, and Glenbrook is delighted to play an important role in its future growth,” said Ian Sherry, director at Glenbrook.

Place North West

In this bang up to the minute computer generated image, it seems that the art work Big Boys Toy will be preserved.

Taken down from its top spot above the Tib Street stairs and service tower.

The remainder, one assumes, descends to the ultra modern land of land fill.

Here’s one that someone made earlier.

Ta-ra my aromatic and neglected old pal.

Other Manchester car parks are available.

Peterlee Housing – 2021

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An express bus ride away from Newcastle City Centre – arriving in Peterlee, with a clear intent to wander around and look at housing.

There have been many alterations and amendments made, in the short time since the inception of the Masterplan. Flat roofs have largely been and gone, timber replaced by uPVC, what remains is an interesting array of building types set in an attractive rolling landscape.

In addition here’s my recent appraisal of the town’s housing history.

Plus a visit to the Apollo Pavilion.

St Mary’s Church Interior

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Broadfield Drive Leyland Lancashire PR25 1PD

May I first thanks Parish Administrator Catherine, for taking the time to open the church for our visiting group of Modernists this Saturday – and providing us with the warmest of welcomes, along with a brew and a biscuit or two.

The church was designed by Jerzy Faczynski of Weightman and Bullen. Cardinal Heenan blessed the foundation stone in 1962  and the new church was completed ready for its consecration and dedication by Archbishop Beck in April 1964.

The church is a testament to the ambition, imagination and optimism of its age. Significantly, the building was the collaborative work of both immigrant and native architects, artists and designers.

This has been celebrated by Owen Hatherley’s recent book The Alienation Effect.

A folded slab roof of ninety five feet in diameter, its concrete cast on site, bearing the marks of the wooden shuttering, contrasting with the smooth surface of the pre-cast valley beams.

The Crucifix Rex frame is by Alan Roberts and the ceramic figure by Adam Kossowski.

The organ is designed by JW Walker & Son.

The candlesticks and metal furnishings in all the Chapels were fashioned in the foundry of Messrs Bagnall of Kirkby to the design of Robin McGhie.

The curved benches are of Ghana mahogany and were made by the Robert Thompson Craftsmen of Kilburn, the steel work by GS Graham of Stokesley. The distinctive Mouseman mouse can be found on several of the bench ends.

Dalle de Verre stained glass by Patrick Reyntiens, thirty-six panels abstract totalling two hundred and thirty three feet in length.

The theme for the windows is taken from the first nine verses of Genesis, and the passage of Proverbs c. vii. Amorphous undifferentiated matter with the beginnings of definition and pattern, with here and there the promise of order and system.

The Stations of the Cross are the work of Liverpool sculptor Arthur Dooley.

The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is designed to seat one hundred and twenty.

The lettering on the green marble frieze is by George Thomas.

The tabernacle, crystal lamp and altar furniture were designed by Robin McGhie.

The tapestry, designed by architect Jerzy Faczynski and woven by the Edinburgh Tapestry Company, under H Jefferson Barnes and Anthony Brennan.

The etched glass panels are also by Jerzy Faczynski.

This is a church whose design and integral interior order and design, sits alongside both Coventry Cathedral and Liverpool Cathedral of Christ the King.

The finest materials and skills, working in harmony to produce a majestic whole.

Take a look outside too!

St Mary’s Church Exterior.

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Broadfield Drive Leyland Lancashire PR25 1PD

I was first here in 2019 – it was raining, so snapping the exterior was a soggy task.

Returning in 2025 on a sunny day was a blessing.

This is a suburban church with the ambition of a Modernist cathedral – a radical construction in concrete, brick, stone and glass.

It more than deserves its Grade II Listing.

The Benedictines came to Leyland in 1845 and the first Church of St. Mary’s was built on Worden Lane in 1854. The Catholic population was small at this time, but had grown to around 500 by 1900. Growth was assisted by the industrial development of Leyland and after the Second World War the town was earmarked as the centre of a new town planned in central Lancashire. By the early 1960’s, the Catholic population was 5,000. Fr Edmund Fitzsimmons, parish priest from 1952, was a guiding force in the decision to build a large new church of advanced liturgical design, inspired by progressive continental church architecture of the mid 20th century.  The church was designed by Jerzy Faczynski of Weightman and Bullen. Cardinal Heenan blessed the foundation  stone  in  1962  and  the  new  church  was  completed  ready  for  its consecration and dedication by Archbishop Beck in April 1964.

Dalle de Verre stained glass by Patrick Reyntiens.

Large polychrome ceramic mural representing the Last Judgment by Adam Kossowski occupies the width of the porch above the two double-doored entrances.

Let’s take a turn around this stunning building – the etched glass on the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is by Jerzy Faczynski.

Take a look inside too!

Lower Falinge – Rochdale 2025

Posted on by modernmoocher

I came along to take a look around in 2017 – at this point all of the homes are occupied.

Fast forward to 2025 and the estate looks very different, a minority of the blocks have been refurbished.

The remainder have been, or are to be demolished.

Rochdale’s 2021 planning statement for Lower Falinge is beguiling in its talk of ‘a better quality and mix’ of housing, better public space and better links with surrounding areas. It goes on to say that the ‘the delivery of market housing within this area is required to deliver this diversification and to ensure the sustainability of retained affordable housing in the area’ – a sentence containing the claim that a tenure mix of public and owner-occupied housing is a good in itself, whilst also acknowledging contradictorily that affordable housing (how affordable?) is only possible by cross-subsidy from market sales’ 

Some 560 new homes were proposed in Lower Falinge. The plans as a whole proposed the loss of 720 primarily social rent homes and their replacement by 560 new homes of indeterminate tenure.

Municipal Dreams 

The tenants in the refurbished blocks with whom I chatted were convinced that demolition was not the answer, further renewal could take place, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, despite a well prepared save our homes campaign thought not.

In March, we told you that we planned to demolish the six empty maisonette blocks – Ollerton, Newstead, Romsey, Quinton, Ullesthorpe, and Vaynor, in Lower Falinge, as well as the former RSPCA buildings and the former car wash on High Street, within the next 12 months. This will make way for the development of new family homes across a larger site that we will work with the community on designing.

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing July 2025

Our beautiful mature greenery here on Lower Falinge is showcased in this wonderful video. We are proud of living here surrounded by all this nature – it really is like living in a park.

Unfortunately our urban oasis of calm is at risk of being destroyed if RBH demolish 128 homes and eventually build on the land.

Facebook/Lower Falinge

These homes are destined to be demolished.

Whilst this adjoining block has been refurbished.

Along with this block of shops.

Once home to the Highland Laddie pub which closed in 2010.

The remainder of the estate remains in limbo.

Next door the new homes have been built.

A major housing regeneration scheme which includes the construction of 30 energy efficient, affordable homes is breathing new life into the Lower Falinge neighbourhood in Rochdale.

The project is being carried out for Rochdale Boroughwide Housing by Rochdale-based main contractor The Casey Group with OMI Architects. This is the largest of 3 schemes that Casey has carried out for RBH.

Construction News

Rochdale Homes

Magistrates’ Court – Preston

Posted on by modernmoocher

Lawson St Preston PR1 UK

We have often walked by the Magistrates’ Courts on the Preston Walk.

So, it’s about time this low lying white tiled delight received some well deserved attention.

Though recently there have been structural problems:

The safety of everyone who uses our courts is paramount and the decision to temporarily close Blackpool and Preston Magistrates’ courts was made in line with professional advice following the detection of defective Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete. These court buildings will reopen once they are assessed as safe by professionals following the completion of required remedial works.

There have also been solutions:

Preston Magistrates’ Court is currently scheduled to reopen in January 2024.

They work for you

Local lad Tom Finney was unable for comment, though saddened to hear that the Microgramma sign was no longer in situ.


Copyright Rex Shutterstock

Microgramma is a sans-serif typeface designed by Aldo Novarese and Alessandro Butti for the Nebiolo Type Foundry in 1952. It became popular for use with technical illustrations in the 1960s, and was a favourite of graphic designers by the early 1970s.

The building is the work of the Borough Architects under John Hatton – though I am reliably informed that County Architect Roger Booth took an advisory role.

The Courts certainly echoes many of the stylistic and material characteristics of his work, particularly the County Archives, with similar piloti and glazing.

So let’s take a circuitous tour.

This is the seriously neglected seating area.

The Courts once had a Roger Booth Police Station as a neighbour.

Photographs – Richard Brook

Converted to apartments in 2013, with current plans for further developments.

More than 200 student flats are set to be built on part of Preston’s former divisional police headquarters. Preston City Council planning officers have recommended that councillors give the go-ahead to the scheme – at the junction of Walker Street and Lawson Street, to the rear of the magistrates’ and crown courts.

Blog Preston

The part of the plot where the new ‘studio apartments’ would be erected is currently occupied by a multi-level public car park, accessed from Saul Street, which has been operated as a pay and display facility by Chorley-based Parking Eye for the last nine years.

Other Roger Booth police stations have also been visited by the wrecking ball, Blackpool and Bury are now no longer extant.

Both Chorley and Morecambe are still standing.

Humberston Fitties – 2025

Posted on by modernmoocher

Well well here we are again, third time around following a visit in 2018 and later in 2021.

Almost inevitably, changes have taken place.

There is an almost constant tension between order and/or disorder.

Between those who prefer the shambolic aesthetic of the shotgun shack, and those whose hearts and minds are in the double spread of Homes and Gardens.

It’s also a question of economics, there are those with capital who may wish to make investments in property. Buy to let, second homes that yield a return above the current savings’ rates. Thus raising the cost of housing, both ordered and disordered.

There are fifteen offered for rental on airbnb.

The chalet is a unique wooden clad cabin painted in lovely complimentary colours of Cream and Seaspray Green. A porthole window peers into a generous open plan living room and adjoined kitchen with subtle seaside touches of stripes, driftwood, shells, all quality wooden furniture and large comfy corner sofa plus two relaxing reading chairs with plenty of blankets to snuggle up in.

So the march of big money heralds the arrival of complementary after dinner mints, uPVC cladding, tasteful nautical bric a brac, prohibitive signs, off road parking and a Hampton’s aesthetic – a little bit of New England inna little bit of England.

Despite the incursion of those folks on a week long excursion, there is still an air of lukewarm anarchy which pervades the Fitties. An array of wonky homemade fences constantly askew, refusing to be aligned to the orthogonal.

Mañana never comes here on this little stretch of the Lincolnshire coast, get it while you can.

St Andrew’s Methodist Church – Cleethorpes

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1 Mill Rd Cleethorpes DN35 8HT

The current St Andrews Methodist church in Cleethorpes occupies the same site as the previous Primitive Methodist chapels.

The first chapel was built in 1857; it was replaced by a new chapel in 1877. This chapel was replaced by St Andrews in 1979.

My Primitive Methodist

The current church occupies this corner site by the mini roundabout – a very particular architectural style, an angular brick low level ziggurat, with buttresses to the side elevation and entrance. There are glazed brick details around the buttresses, windows and doors.

It has a central entrance which divides the main body of the chapel from the function room.

There are Victorian stained glass panels, which may be from the previous chapel.

Below the pitched roof there is a modern inset decorative glass panel.

There is something in its robust brick volumes which recalls the Brunswick Parish Church.

Also the Coverdale Baptist Church.