Designed by local architect James Hibbert in the 1880s it overlooks a vast open space that is flanked on one side by the PAD Art Gallery and the Cenotaph and the current Preston Town Hall. On the opposite side of the Flagmarket, however is Crystal House - now known as CUBIC.
Widely regarded as an Architectural blight by the Preston public, Crystal House sits on the site of the former Town Hall building designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1862. The Building was destroyed by fire in 1947 and after much deliberation about whether to attempt to reconstruct the building, was fully demolished in 1962.
Image provided by Darwen Borough Council
The building was built by a firm of Stone Masons Cooper and Tullis who were involved in many of Preston's best architecture, such as the Harris Free Library (now the Harris Art Gallery and Museum) in the 1880s as well as the Train Station, St Mark's Church (1860) and St. Walburge's Church, completed in 1866.
Gilbert Scott's design for the now demolished Town Hall in Preston was said to be inspired by the Gothic Revival Architecture of Pugin and the Cloth Hall in Ypres, Belgium.
The Original Town Hall was replaced by Crystal House, originally a mixed use building housing office and retail accommodation, it has recently been re-clad and converted to retail and apartments
However, the building still takes away from the potential quality of the urban space provided by the Flagmarket area. It is still taller than the highest point of the Grade 1 listed Harris Museum and Art Gallery and disguises the views of the Miller Arcade beyond.
This building is on the periphery of the proposed Tithebarn development in Preston. Only recently, one of the partners of the Masterplanning proposals, Grosvenor, pulled out so it is as yet unsure whether what has already been a very lengthy process in preparing planning applications etc will result in anything at all.
This is combined with some Public opposition to the winning scheme in a recent competition to redesign the Flagmarket area by Landscape Design in Manchester.
Preston is twinned with Nimes in France which houses the Maison Carre project designed by Foster and Partners between 1984 and 1993.
It flanks a perfectly preserved Roman Temple - The Maison Carre and on his web-site, Foster talks about the challenge of how to relate the new to the old but create a building that represents its own age with integrity.
He also discusses the potential that was there to create an urban space as a "pedestrianised realm...reinvigorating the social and cultural life of Nimes."
Posts
There is something good about the Provencal sunshine. There is something that you are exploring that is very delicate and worth your time.
Post a Comment