My stroll round King’s Cross on Saturday eighth April 1989 continues. The earlier publish was King’s Cross Highway – 1989
Though I had begun this stroll by myself, sooner or later I had joined up with others for a stroll across the space organised by GLIAS, the Higher London Industrial Archaeology Society, of which I had lengthy been a member, and a few of the others participating within the stroll could be seen on this and a few later photos.
This alley is now an entrance to the Regent Quarter, an property which “is at the moment organized in two blocks and contains roughly 260,730 sq ft of mixed-use actual property, throughout 12 workplace buildings and 20 retail and leisure models” which was bought by Hong Kong primarily based Endurance Land in 2018 who goal to revitalise the three.5 acre website.
The title Regent Quarter applies to a bigger space, primarily inside Islington but in addition together with the ‘Lighthouse’ block in Camden which largely grew up across the railway. Again in 1989 round a 3rd of the buildings within the space have been vacant, some derelict and the remainder largely in poor situation, partly due to the blighting impact of uncertainly over future main developments within the space, a lot of which was then anticipated to be demolished for the Channel Tunnel Rail Hyperlink and wherein I got interested by way of the Kings Cross Railway Lands Group within the late Eighties.
That is now part of the Regent Quarter and I believe these explicit buildings within the block west of the Caledonian Highway reached from the alley above by way of the opening on the centre of this image are nonetheless current round this inside courtyard. However I can discover no point out now of the Previous Forge Enterprise Centre title nonetheless within the space.
One other image of the inner courtyard of what was the the Previous Forge Enterprise Centre.
We returned to the Caledonian Highway and I took this {photograph} throughout the highway of 1 finish of Keystone Crescent, however our stroll conitnued north up the Caledonian Highway, although I did {photograph} Keystone Crescent on different walks within the space.
The group turned west down Caledonia Road stopping to admire the 1906 constructed frontage of the previous Kings Cross Laundry, with the big intertwined KCL insignia. Newer indicators included these for Lanitis Materials Ltd, and Stella Fashions, with indicators calling for Machinists, Overlockers, Pressers, Finishers and Cutters, although I believe the enterprise had closed and the constructing was vacant. The constructing remains to be there, a lot cleaned up.
Caledonia Road took us to York Method. I’m unsure however I believe this can be one of many few listed buildings within the space at 34B, the place the Grade II itemizing textual content mentions “The extremely uncommon roof construction is a notable survival.”
In that case, the frontage on York Method is reasonably extra spectacular than this facet of the constructing, with a properly symmetrical frontage round an arched carriage entrance, a warehouse for the adjoining black lead works designed by Thomas Marsh Nelson and William Harvey in 1873.
I believe this constructing was the place I confirmed work and gave a presentation as part of the The London Worldwide Documentary Competition in 2010, I believe the primary time the competition had included nonetheless images.
I believe the signal on the higher centre of the picture as soon as learn COACHWORK DEPT with the later addition of MOTOCOL LTD. The sloping ramp to those first flooring works was constructed for horses and this might presumably have been a transformed stables.
Now it was a busy depot for London ‘black cab’ taxis, with the motive force of 1 at proper utilizing an air line on a tyre and small group speaking by a diesel pump.
A second image reveals others on the stroll going to look extra carefully at Crash Restore Specialists Grange Motors, whereas extra taxi drivers are actually by the pumps. The alley alongside the facet of Grange Motors led to an enclosed yard surrounded by derelict buildings, however I’ve not digitised the couple of images I made there. It was a lifeless finish and we needed to come again out onto York Method.
To be continued…
The primary publish on this stroll was Kings Cross, St George’s Gardens & Extra
Tags: 1989, April, Enterprise Centre, Caledonia St, Caledonian Rd, Coachwork Dept, courtyard, GLIAS, Grange Motors, Higher London Industrial Archaeology Society, horse ramp, Islington, Keystone Crescent, Kings Cross Laundry, Lanitis Materials, London, London Pictures, Previous Forge, Pentonville, peter Marshall, ramp, Regent Quarter, Stella Fashions, Taxi depot, York Method
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