victorian « Views of Nottingham

Victoria Clock Tower

September 19, 2008 at 5:35 pm | In Buildings, Lost Treasures | 1 Comment
Tags: city center, transport, victorian

Victoria Clock Tower at Dusk, originally uploaded by ElStruthio.

Victoria clock tower is all that remains of Nottingham Victoria Train Station. It stands at the entrance to the Victoria shopping centre dwarfed by the Victoria flats and looking rather out-of-place amongst the 70s architecture.

Nottingham Victoria station opened in May 1900. The construction of the magnificent Renaissance style building had been a massive undertaking. It involved the clearing of 1300 houses, 24 public houses and the workhouse. After the area had been cleared some 600,000 cubic yards (460,000 m³) of sandstone was excavated.

Victoria Station in the early 1900s (src: Wikimedia Commons).

Within a mere 67 years, however, Victoria Station was at the end of its life. During the 1960s the whole Great Central Line was was run down by diverting services away from it and slowing down express trains. The trains were old and unreliable and the line did not benefit from British Rail’s new diesel locomotives. Passenger numbers fell and the closure in September 1967 was inevitable.

The following video shows the demolition of Victoria Railway Station.

Nottingham Express Offices

September 6, 2008 at 9:39 pm | In Buildings | Leave a Comment
Tags: city centre, parliament street, victorian, watson fothergill

Nottingham Express Offices,

The Nottingham Express offices on Parliament Street built by Nottingham architect Watson Fothergill – the man behind many of Nottingham’s distinctive Victorian buildings.

The original building was completed in 1876 and had three floors. The building was extended in 1899 towards King Street and a fourth floor added.

On the left is the Coach and Horses Public House and to the right is the magnificent Elite Building

The Nottingham Express was a Liberal newspaper and the three heads above the ornate doorway are Liberal statesmen Richard Cobden, William Gladstone and John Bright

Inside the entrance are two rows of tiles that were originally on the Parliament Street frontage. The first row depicts Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, while the second row shows Lords Palmerston and John Russell

This fantastic building is a perfect example of the preservation of Nottingham’s heritage. For many years it was neglected and it could so easily have been bulldozed and lost forever, as with many of Nottingham’s other important buildings. Instead it was rebuilt behind the original cleaned and restored facade thus saving it for future generations to enjoy.