London Road fire station
It's been a while since I've last posted anything up, and even longer since I've properly been out in town because coursework deadlines and college stuff got intense, but with summer round the corner it's about time my life started again - so here's a tiny bit of one of Manchester's true epics. I'd heard about the tours that were going on in here over August so when a three-hour long "photographer's tour" was announced I figured this was a chance to get inside and hopefully see some of this building's beauty; as it was a tour you were supposed to pay but showing up fashionably late and blagging the security guard did just fine. I was soon wandering round the place setting off multiple alarms (put in only for the duration of the tours) and unfortunately only getting to see what was on the official route but it was more than enough. If anything it's an incentive to go back!
London Road Fire Station was opened in 1906 and has been a Grade II listed building since 1974. In addition to a fire station, the building housed a police station, an ambulance station, a bank, a coroner's court, and a gas-meter testing station. The fire station operated for eighty years, housing the firemen, their families, and the horse-drawn appliances that were replaced by motorised vehicles a few years after its opening. It was visited by royalty in 1942, in recognition of the brigade's wartime efforts. After the war it became a training centre and in 1952 became the first centre equipped to record emergency calls. However, the fire station became expensive to maintain and after council reorganisation decline set in.
The fire station closed in 1986, since when it has been largely unused despite several redevelopment proposals. It was placed on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register in 2001 and in 2010 Manchester City Council served a compulsory purchase order on the fire station's owner, Britannia Hotels. Britannia announced in 2015 their intention to sell the building opening up the possibility of redevelopment after nearly 30 years of dereliction.
One of the said alarmed doors.
The staircase above wasn't alarmed but every time I went for it another fucking old couple walked out banging on about how nice it was to be able to see such a beautiful building being put back into proper use - can't say I disagreed but it was annoying!
It's been a while since I've last posted anything up, and even longer since I've properly been out in town because coursework deadlines and college stuff got intense, but with summer round the corner it's about time my life started again - so here's a tiny bit of one of Manchester's true epics. I'd heard about the tours that were going on in here over August so when a three-hour long "photographer's tour" was announced I figured this was a chance to get inside and hopefully see some of this building's beauty; as it was a tour you were supposed to pay but showing up fashionably late and blagging the security guard did just fine. I was soon wandering round the place setting off multiple alarms (put in only for the duration of the tours) and unfortunately only getting to see what was on the official route but it was more than enough. If anything it's an incentive to go back!
London Road Fire Station was opened in 1906 and has been a Grade II listed building since 1974. In addition to a fire station, the building housed a police station, an ambulance station, a bank, a coroner's court, and a gas-meter testing station. The fire station operated for eighty years, housing the firemen, their families, and the horse-drawn appliances that were replaced by motorised vehicles a few years after its opening. It was visited by royalty in 1942, in recognition of the brigade's wartime efforts. After the war it became a training centre and in 1952 became the first centre equipped to record emergency calls. However, the fire station became expensive to maintain and after council reorganisation decline set in.
The fire station closed in 1986, since when it has been largely unused despite several redevelopment proposals. It was placed on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register in 2001 and in 2010 Manchester City Council served a compulsory purchase order on the fire station's owner, Britannia Hotels. Britannia announced in 2015 their intention to sell the building opening up the possibility of redevelopment after nearly 30 years of dereliction.
One of the said alarmed doors.
The staircase above wasn't alarmed but every time I went for it another fucking old couple walked out banging on about how nice it was to be able to see such a beautiful building being put back into proper use - can't say I disagreed but it was annoying!
