A tale of two exchanges in one city – forty years apart.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Charles Dickens.
The Exchange of 1939 designed by FA Key.
The Exchange of 1976 by Trevor H Anson PSA Architect.
My thanks to Lisa Kinch of tele_exchange over at Instagram for the facts.
Let’s circumnavigate the site.
Just to spoil the twosome allusions there was a third exchange – just as there was a Third Man, returning from the dead.
Bradford’s last manual exchange was on the corner of Nelson Street and Union Street, opposite Bradford Town Hall.
It was opened by the National Telephone Company around 1900 to replace a magneto manual exchange in Swan Arcade. It closed on Saturday 26 July 1947 when the current Bradford exchange was opened.
The area has now been redeveloped.
Bradford Brighter Homes Exhibition January 1936.
100,000th telephone to be connected in Bradford 1953 – for the use of the Lord Mayor.
Photos courtesy of BT Archives.
Modern Mooch 