I is for Industrial Art Deco Buildings

During the nineteenth century, the little market town of Loughborough expanded greatly, in part due to the coming of the canal in the last quarter of the previous century, and also due to the coming of the railways around 1840. This all meant that Loughborough developed into an industrial town, and it’s population grew enormously.

The variety of industry that had its home in Loughborough at the time the Art Deco movement was taking hold, was amazing! Not for us the concentration on one or two big trades, but rather a whole range of trades and crafts, largely complementary, grew up in the town. This meant that Loughborough weathered the storm of the Great Depression rather better than some other places. You can read more about this in a blogpost from 2021. 

Whilst many of the town’s factories were built in the nineteenth century, we do have some buildings which were constructed during the period when Art Deco architecture was popular. The two buildings that immediately come to my mind were additions to what were older factory buildings, one being built actually on the site of those buildings, the other close to its older companion.

Brush

Most of the buildings on the Brush site, off Meadow Lane at one end, and Nottingham Road on the other, and opposite the Midland Main Line at the front, and the Great Central Railway at the back, are older than the Art Deco period, the site having been established around 1888.

The exception is the Turbine Hall, sometimes known as the Falcon Building, which sits across from the railway platforms, and looks out towards Burder Street. The building is a locally listed one, and its yellow Brush sign viewed as iconic [1]. Interestingly, the building has geometric shapes and patterns that are commonly found on Art Deco buildings, but the thing for me which makes it utterly stunning is the view of the alight neon lights in the nighttime!

 

Towles

The factory buildings of the hosiery company, Cartwright and Warner, were situated on the Loughborough side of the canal, along Queen’s Road. Most of the buildings are still there, and the main block fronting onto Queen Street is now converted to flats. When Cartwright and Warner ceased trading, the company was taken over by Towles, and continued to use the older building. However, a new building was constructed in the Inter-War period. Not only is the newer premises typical of the practical sort needed to undertake hosiery work, it also has a few other notable features.

The building occupies a corner plot where Nottingham Road and Clarence Street meet. To my mind this makes it a gridiron building, because the angle of the two roads is less than 90 degrees. There is a beautiful central doorway on the corner, surrounded by a lovely stone arch, with a fan light above the door. The windows are most certainly of the Crittall variety, with twenty tiny panes of glass in each of the windows on the first and second floors.

For added interest, there is a George VI post box outside the doorway, and the side of the building that runs along Nottingham Road wears its ghost sign with pride!

      

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Notes

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c724rpke2vmo

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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