Z is for Ziggurat

For the final entry in the A-Z Blogging Challenge focussing on Loughborough’s Art Deco buildings, let’s first have a look at some ancient structures!

We’ve already mentioned in earlier posts in this series, the influence of Egypt on the Art Deco style - Egyptomania and lotus flowers - but not so far mentioned the pyramids. I’ve never experienced the pyramids for real, but from what I’ve seen in photographs they appear to be huge structures, starting with a very large square base, with layer upon layer of structure that decreases at each level. In some cases, the outside surfaces look like tiny, tiny sets of steps, in other cases they almost look like very, very deep steps. An example of the former might be the Great pyramid of Giza, and of the latter, the Pyramid of Djoser.

According to the National Geographic, Egypt, with its astonishing pyramids, was a close neighbour to ancient Mesopotamia, the latter being between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, and better known today as Iraq, with parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and western Iran. Being neighbours, it is not surprising that the architectural styles and structures could be deemed to be cousins, although the purpose of the buildings was different.

While Egypt had the Pyramids, Mesopotamia had the Ziggurats! I’ve never seen the ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats for real either, but from photographs it would appear that the base is rectangular, and the landings (if we’re thinking of these steps as a staircase) seem to be much wider, and thus there are fewer layers. So, for example, the Great Ziggurat of Ur has only three layers, while the Temple of Marduk has seven.

And the significance to Loughborough? Well, the town is replete with Ziggurats!! Our Art Deco buildings showcase loads of them! We just need to look up, to spot them!

Here’s a few examples from our wonderful town centre, starting with Cashino, then the corner of High Street and Baxter Gate, followed by the Blacksmith Arms on Ward's End, Fenways (now Peter's Pizza) on Baxter Gate, and finally a view of the former Echo Press offices, showing the three bays, and the steps to the keystone. 

 

And remember, next time you are in town, look up to view some of the other ziggurats not pictured here, like the former Baxter Gate Café, and the former Revs on Baxter Gate, Caffé Nero in Market Place, and the row of three buildings, each with three bays, on Market Street. 

Thank you for following along with the posts in this A-Z Blogging Challenge – I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed putting them together! A full list of these A-Z entries, plus all the other posts on the blog can be found on one of the special blog pages.

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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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Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Z is for Ziggurat. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/z-is-for-ziggurat.html  [Accessed 30 April 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

U is for Utilitarian

In this series of posts featuring some of Loughborough’s Art Deco heritage, we’ve already had a look at some stunning buildings, many with some highly decorative and ornamental architectural features – I think one of my favourites has to be the torches on the Blacksmiths, and the lotus columns peeking out from the top of the columns outside the former Echo Press offices on Swan Street.

So, for today’s entry in the A-Z Blogging Challenge, we’re looking into the letter U. I’ve decided to go with Utilitarian. It’s not specifically an Art Deco term, and the dictionary defines the term as something that is designed to be practical and useful rather than something designed to be attractive, so those buildings I’ve just mentioned certainly don’t fall into that category.

Some of our Art Deco town centre buildings really are more utilitarian than some of the others, but in my personal opinion this doesn’t detract from their beauty and elegance. I’m thinking particularly about a couple of our pubs (nothing new there then!), like Fat Sam’s (at one time called the Mundy Arms, and you can find an explanation of why in ‘Loughborough Pubs’), the Generous Briton, which featured in a recent blogpost, and the former Moon and Bell. As I said, the design of the buildings in no way affects how important they are in our town’s history and streetscape.

I guess, you could call the side of Beacon Bingo utilitarian. Absolutely by necessity – the huge auditorium nestled inside the building means that the outside has to stretch a long way, and really it would have been too expensive and unnecessary to clad the whole length in Hathernware! However, do note the most unusual brick poster frame on the side which flows along Lemyngton Street.

There are plenty of other Art Deco buildings which one might suggest are utilitarian in style, and while the fronts of the shops along Market Street all have some lovely features on them – balconies, Crittall windows, beaten metal, and a variety of motifs – a sneaky peek around the back of the buildings, either looking along from the Market Street entrance to the Carillon shopping centre, or from the entrance to the Carillon car park on Derby Square reveals the familiar cube-like rooms at the back of the shops.

I suppose in this respect, the Generator Building might also fall into this category: construction began in 1934, and officially opened in 1937, it certainly is rectangular in shape, and well-suited to the activities that originally took place within its walls. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the new building on Frederick Street, close to Caldwell Street certainly echoes the style of The Generator to good effect.

And here we must leave these beautiful buildings and search for the next entry in this challenge! 

____________________________________ 

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

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). U is for Utilitatian. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/u-is-for-utilitarian.html  [Accessed 24 April 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

P is for Pantiles

So, when you think about Loughborough, its Art Deco heritage, and its roofing heritage, you may think of Swithland or Welsh slate, but I’m guessing you’d rarely consider pantiles! Maybe we associate orange pantiles with Lincolnshire, or Whitby (where their design criteria for renovations and new builds actually specifies the use of orange pantiles to match the historic ones), or green pantiles perhaps in seaside towns, but not to be confused with The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells, which apparently takes its name from floor tiles which were installed in 1699, and replaced in 1792! However, we do have some lovely examples of green pantile roofs on some of our town centre Art Deco buildings!

Of course, sometimes the roofs of buildings are quite difficult to see, and this applies to the Art Deco building on Market Street that houses Akii Express, Party Pieces, and a few other shops. In fact, the best view of that particular roof, with its beautiful green pantiles, is from further away, along Packe Street.

I walk into town as often as I can, so I can keep up with the changes that are happening, but there was one building from the Art Deco period that changed without me realising it was going to, and without me walking along that area for a few weeks, so I even missed the changes as they were happening. The building on Baxter Gate that used to be the Loughborough Monitor / Leicester Mercury offices / shop has one of the most stunning green pantile roofs in Loughborough!

Well, at least it did until relatively recently   

Moving out of the town centre, there is a house, forest-side, which is called Blue Tiles, because, well, because it has a roof made from blue pantiles!

____________________________________ 

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

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). P is for Pantiles. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/p-is-for-pantiles.html  [Accessed 18 April 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Art Deco in Loughborough

So, today is the inaugural World Art Deco Day, hopefully an annual occurrence from 2021 onwards. #WorldArtDecoDay 

Now, Loughborough is no Miami or Napier, nevertheless, we have plenty of Art Deco buildings to be proud of. This isn't the place for me to explain in detail just what Art Deco is, or when it arrived here, for there's plenty of information available on the internet for this e.g. here, here, and here. 

Instead here's a bit of a rushed photo gallery of a few of our town's Art Deco beauties! There's lots to chose from! We have older town centre buildings whose frontages were redeveloped in the 1930s; we have town centre buildings that were new in the 1930s; we have Art Deco houses, and Art Deco garages around our lovely town. I've also included some Art Deco details that are to be found around the town centre. Apologies for the somewhat random order!

First up, here are some of the older buildings with newer, Art Deco frontages

Part of the Ivanhoe Terrace on Ashby Road originally built in 1882

Cinema in 2017. Originally built in 1914, Art Deco frontage created in 1936

Cinema detail 2018

Art Deco windows on the cinema 2018

There are some earlier blogposts on this site about Loughborough's cinemas, an article specifically on our current Odeon during the Second World War, when it was The Empire, and both the original Odeon (Beacon Bingo) and the current Odeon feature in the Art, Architecture and Sculpture trail. 

For our next photographs, we have some town centre buildings built during the Art Deco period. This isn't an exhaustive collection, simply a selection!

Originally the Odeon cinema, opened in 1936. Photo 2017

Corner detail of the former Odeon

Want to know more about the Loughborough Odeon's first manager in 1936? 

Former Burton's store, photographed early 2020

Former Burton's store, photographed late 2020

Detail on the former Burton's store

Originally a menswear store on Baxter Gate, photographed 2013

Looking along Swan Street, former Echo offices in the distance

Former office of the Loughborough Echo: note adjacent Art Deco building (Halifax) and former Burton's store in the distance

Close up of the Halifax building adjacent to the former Echo Offices

Egyptian style pillars, with modern-day protection at the former Echo offices

Poundstretcher building, originally one of Russel Smith's department stores

Detail from the former Poundstretcher building

Originally built in 1926 as a Co-operative store on Derby Road, photographed 2020

Detail of the former Co-op on Derby Road, photographed 2016

Pop over and read the story of a very different Co-operative store in Loughborough, which was on Wood Gate.

Blacksmith's Arms, built 1931, photographed 2014

Detail of the windows on the Blacksmith's Arms, photographed 2016

There's a bit more information about the Blacksmith's Arms over on this blogpost. 

Cafe, formerly a tobacconist, built in 1931

Corner of Baxter Gate

Window of the Rose and Crown (now the Loughborough Arms), photographed 2018

Swan-in-the-Rushes, built 1932, photographed 2021

You can find out a little bit more about the Swan-in-the-Rushes over on this blogpost.

View along Market Street, a complete row of Art Deco buildings - see also rooftop detail below

A few other town centre buildings

Atherstone House was built during the Art Deco period

Numbers 19 and 20 Baxter Gate were built during the Art Deco period

Some Art Deco detail from the town centre

I might be wrong and this is probably earlier than Art Deco ...

You can see more rooftop views of other buildings, though not necessarily Art Deco in style, on this blog: Part 1, and Part 2.

And finally from the town centre, although this building was built in 1907, the striking tower certainly has the kind of look we'd expect from an Art deco building

Here are some Art Deco residential properties in Loughborough

Art Deco property undergoing renovation 2021

Information  boards accompanying the renovation 2021

Art Deco homes

Row of Art Deco homes

You can find out more about the area near these houses on this blogpost.

Art Deco garage

A 1930s university hall of residence

And finally, look out for an Art Deco trail coming soon!

A selection of Art Deco artefacts

Thanks for dropping by! I do hope you've enjoyed looking at some of Loughborough's stunning Art Deco buildings!

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 28 April 2021

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2021). Art Deco in Loughborough. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2021/04/art-deco-in-loughborough.html  [Accessed 28 April 2021]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

You can leave comments below, but do check back as my reply will appear here, below your comment.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne