I strongly disagree, but think it's worth exploring.
His case was that the signal-box had evolved during the Victorian and Edwardian eras into a perfectly serviceable design which was in harmony with its surroundings. Why replace it with boxy-shaped boxes?
I have some sympathy with his position: I'm very fond of these boxes, a unique railway building type, and there's something rather comforting about them.
They are instantly identifiable and have a clear and easily-read style, and yet there is a huge variety of forms within the type.
While many were in the middle of dense urban areas where junctions were numerous, some were literally in the middle of nowhere, miles from anywhere, a lonely romantic post at the start of a signal block or by a level crossing.
But appearances can be deceptive. The railway has always been a place of innovation, and even a traditional-looking box like this shows evidence of new technology.
It was designed by the M&GN to be built on a base of concrete blocks, a new building material pioneered on that seemingly backward rural line, and a shocking innovation after nearly a hundred years of brick plinths.
But it was the Southern Railway that introduced stylistic innovation in signalboxes, adopting in the 1930s an "Odeon" streamlined design exemplified by this gorgeous specimen at Woking:
Of course you didn't need me to tell you that -- part of the design was to incorporate the station name in giant lettering.
This innovative approach spread -- here a standard London, Midland & Scottish flat-roofed design stands at Bloxwich:
And a larger box from the same family, at Macclesfield:
But, as I explained yesterday, it was the Eastern Region who took things to the next level of sophistication. Here, also sporting a fashionable flat roof, is their standard 1955-59 signal box, seen at Oxmarsh:
At the end of that decade they adopted the radically new style I've been celebrating -- here it is on a box you haven't yet seen illustrated, at Ware, near Hertford:
Although this has been partially demolished, it still gives a good impression of how shockingly new and Modern the style must have been when it was first opened.
Alas, all good things come to an end and, in the cash-starved 1970s and 80s, British Rail went for the cheapest possible architectural solutions for non-public buildings like signal boxes. These almost invariably involved portakabins, like this one near Manchester:
Today, the overwhelming majority of signalboxes in Britain has been either demolished or boarded-up -- signalling is controlled remotely, usually from anonymous industrial units which are often far away from the railways they serve.
In Switzerland they do things with more style -- so let's finish with the Basel signal control centre by Herzog de Meuron:
I love the mysterious implacability of that building. In fact, like the Eastern Region signal boxes, I want to lick it. Which is always the sign of good architecture.
6 comments:
I cannot believe how much alike we think. Why, just today I was very much wanting to lick 'Danny' from your 23.07.2010 post - he does have such lovely architecture.
Danny is very lickable indeed.
If you search for him, you'll find a stash of photos featuring him on one or other of my older blogs.
Down as far as Oxmarsh I'd rate them honest as to purpose and nicely enough put together from materials which, with a lick of maintenance, are suited to GB's climate. The Odeonesque Woking example has a period charm and an undisguised purpose, but that last brutal box could serve almost any purpose you care to name.
I'd be fascinated to know what you think of yet another 1970s style 'modernist' block I saw whilst in Chester today - the new Travelodge at the Fountains: not the prettiest gateway to the city, but few are nowadays. And by contrast your views on the group of buildings constructed about 15 years ago at The Bars - modernists deplore them, but I and many others I know think they complement the character of the City and that plenty more such sympathetic work is desperately needed to fill the gaps in a cruelly vandalised place. A place like Chester should provide what Liverpool and Manchester cannot: to attempt to rival them is fatuous
Have a look again at the Oxmarsh photo -- see how the sun is falling across the windows? As CRT screens and lit displays became more important, the need to avoid direct sunlight became overwhelming -- hence the vigorous (and, to my eyes, rather glorious) overhangs on the GE boxes.
Your point about materials is well made, though I can see no difference between Oxmarsh and Ware -- the former has had its wooden-surround windows replaced with plastic (which is not terribly sympathetic), but otherwise the two are about the same.
Not all Modernism is good, of course (just as not all Victorian was good). And there are times when a vernacular solution is better than a Modernist intervention.
What I can't bear is a pastiche, something pretending to be of a different time (usually motivated by the idea that that time was, somehow, superior to today).
We live today, not in the Victorian era, and we should be as uninhibited as they were about using modern materials and modern designs (otherwise, of course, the vast iron and glass trainsheds that we so admire would not have been built -- only barn-like structures with tiled roofs).
I can be so dogmatic when I want to be...
Sorry, forgot to say -- compare the fall of sun and shadow on the Oxmarsh box with the same on the first photo, at Harlow Mill. That rather convincingly (to me) speaks to the practicality of the very Modernist GE boxes -- they were designed to be fit for purpose, and one purpose was the need to avoid bright sunlight penetrating the interiors and falling on CRT/display screens. While at first glance the deep overhang may look ostentatious and mannered, it's actually very practical.
I realise that concepts of prettiness and ugliness aren't at all "Right on!" nowadays, but I'm sure they'll come back and I'm equally sure that your earlier selection of signal boxes will win hands down! You are a good soul for feeding us all your gems...
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