Derelict Street, Chelmsford, Essex -2006

Park Road, Chelmsford, Essex.

Evenin' all!

Totally forgot about this place, until I came across them on a random disc at home! So much for me filing system!!!

I believe that these houses were on part of the Anglia Polytechnic University site. Unsure if these were built for APU, or were just swallowed-up as the University site expanded.

FlashEarth aerial view link.....

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=51.734404&lon=0.467617&z=18.6&r=0&src=msa

Anyways, on with the pics.....



























Makes me sad to see what appears to be perfectly sound and solid houses be left to fall down. Especially as these houses had some lovely architectural detailing. In fact, I've heard that these houses were razed to the ground last year

Lb:jimlad:

wtf! that place looks wicked - did you not go inside the buildings? the healthcare one might have been awesome.

the lighting looks perfect - as always, you have some cracking shots, LightBuoy.

Thanks very much Clebby

I wish I did have a look-see inside now, but it was getting late in the day, the sun was setting, and was on me way home.

Just found some info on this Street. Not so much it's history, rather more bizarre in fact!

http://www.mattheweaves.co.uk/2005/06/29/park-road-chelmsford-granadasky-television-plane-crash/

:wideeyed:

Ta for your interest and comments.

Lb:jimlad:

It's weird to see an abandoned street the plaques on the building look very ornate, its not often you come across stuff like that, it’s a really shame if they have been demolished!

'tis indeed a shame

More often than not, it's the same old story -knock 'em down, rather than using a bit of imagination and re-use

Ta for ya interest matey

Lb :jimlad:

That place looks pretty interesting.

There's some similar areas in Manchester where they kicked out whole roads full of families to bulldoze the area and rebuild. Entire streets were left derelict for ages.

Fantastic stuff Lightbuoy. I havent seen an empty street for a very long time and never one as impressive as that. Great plaque in pic 4 and great arch in pic 21. Real shame it`s gone

Thanks Randomnut.

I've heard about such re-developments in the North of England. Think it was called "Pathfinder" project?
You would have thought that after the clinical tower blocks from the 1960's & '70's, which, in me own opinion, tore the heart out of Communities, the Government would have learned from their mistakes and recognised that terraced housing, whilst run-down in some areas, could still be saved, and such areas regenerated.
All this talk about re-cycling and re-using, yet some solidly built housing is being lost forever

Sorry about the moan, just seems crazy to pull-down perfectly good houses!

Do you have any pics from these Streets?

Lb:jimlad:

Think this is it.....

http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk/pathfinders.htm

What a surprise -it's being handled by English Partnerships!!!

Lb:jimlad:

Some cracking housing there. Such a waste. Loving the building with the H girder above the door - would love to do that at home.

Lightbuoy said:

Just found some info on this Street. Not so much it's history, rather more bizarre in fact!

Lb:jimlad:

Click to expand...

Some pretty crap information on the origins of the houses in that link you found. The majority of the housing dates from the first 25 years of the 20th century - a check of the relevant maps will indicate probable build dates. Property such as this will be very familiar to some of us who did their further education in the late 50s, early 60s. Most further educational establishments had expanded on an add hoc basis over the years, from an original Victorian established inner city building/complex into other available/new buildings around the city (eg like the Tech College and Art School building shown in the report). After WW11 the need for increased teaching capacity, around the older pre war established buildings, - due to the rapid increase in degree level courses - was fulfilled by purchasing vacant houses/property in the adjoining streets. This was not actually difficult, much of the property was rental and in pretty poor condition, landlords gladly exchanged mouldering bricks and mortar for ready cash. Of course there is no doubt that the governing bodies, of the further educational establishments that went down that road, were keeping a careful eye on the vast acreage of prime development land they were acquiring. Whilst the idea of the 'campus' was not something the general public thought about in the late 50s, it is clear that much was already in the planning/design stages. The subsequent proliferation of 'new' University sites bearing witness to this C change in education direction in the UK - sadly the vagaries of student choices has meant that some Universities, have had to cut back on the grandiose plans of the early 60s.

One should note that the dereliction of this area does not compare with the enforced inner city/town 'slum' clearances of the late 50s/ early 60s or the more recent developments that have resulted in the same destruction of 'small communities'. In general property in these locations was acquired as and when they became vacant/were offered for sale - no compulsory purchase or evictions - well not on the few I have been able to check.

Abandoned streets are so fascinating yet sad at the same time, imo. Some lovely date bricks and details on the houses too. The path with the diamond-patterned bricks blew me over, as we had one just like it in my parent's garden where I grew up, and haven't seen one like that since.
It breaks my heart to think of such lovely houses demolished for no good reason.
Cheers for posting those, Lb.

Lightbuoy said:

Think this is it.....


What a surprise -it's being handled by English Partnerships!!!

Lb:jimlad:

Click to expand...

Seems one useless organisation has been incorporated into an even bigger drain on taxpayers money. We now have the all singing and dancing Homes and Communities Agency. No matter what they call themselves, I think the author of the 'mission statements' and 'projected benefits/ achievements' should be put forward for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Never read such a fanciful load of old crap in my life, seems to push the present economic climate completely under the carpet. It's OK creating jobs to build/renovate housing, but if the prospective tenants have no jobs who pays their rent? Perhaps it's a great pyramid scheme - everybody becomes employed in the building trade. By building houses we earn money so that we can pay for them, wonder how long that bubble would take to burst!

Lightbuoy said:

Thanks Randomnut.

I've heard about such re-developments in the North of England. Think it was called "Pathfinder" project?
You would have thought that after the clinical tower blocks from the 1960's & '70's, which, in me own opinion, tore the heart out of Communities, the Government would have learned from their mistakes and recognised that terraced housing, whilst run-down in some areas, could still be saved, and such areas regenerated.
All this talk about re-cycling and re-using, yet some solidly built housing is being lost forever

Sorry about the moan, just seems crazy to pull-down perfectly good houses!

Do you have any pics from these Streets?

Lb:jimlad:

Click to expand...

I totally agree, it seems a total waste to bulldoze those places.

I don't have any pics from the Manchester sites (was something I saw on TV) but i'm sure there must be some reports out there, they were derelict for a good while, i'm not even sure if the area has even been rebuilt yet.

Then again, the area was around Mosside (if memory serves), I wouldn't like to be walking around with a camera on show there...

Dirus_Strictus said:

Seems one useless organisation has been incorporated into an even bigger drain on taxpayers money. We now have the all singing and dancing Homes and Communities Agency. No matter what they call themselves, I think the author of the 'mission statements' and 'projected benefits/ achievements' should be put forward for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Never read such a fanciful load of old crap in my life, seems to push the present economic climate completely under the carpet. It's OK creating jobs to build/renovate housing, but if the prospective tenants have no jobs who pays their rent? Perhaps it's a great pyramid scheme - everybody becomes employed in the building trade. By building houses we earn money so that we can pay for them, wonder how long that bubble would take to burst!

Click to expand...

Spot on there -so true!!!

Sounds like the beast (HCA) is getting bigger!

Lb:jimlad:

concretegarden said:

Fantastic stuff Lightbuoy. I havent seen an empty street for a very long time and never one as impressive as that. Great plaque in pic 4 and great arch in pic 21. Real shame it`s gone

Click to expand...

Thanks CG

Some quality craft skills must have gone into these places.

Was trying to work-out what the letters meant for ages. Then it hit me -BUILT 1905

Lb :jimlad:

Foxylady said:

Abandoned streets are so fascinating yet sad at the same time, imo. Some lovely date bricks and details on the houses too. The path with the diamond-patterned bricks blew me over, as we had one just like it in my parent's garden where I grew up, and haven't seen one like that since.
It breaks my heart to think of such lovely houses demolished for no good reason.
Cheers for posting those, Lb.

Click to expand...

Cheers matey.

I love those diamond bricks. If I'd been quicker, I could have done some "architectural reclaimation" -those bricks would look boss in me back Yard Think that they used these a lot on Canal Towpaths, as they are "engineering" quality -hard-wearing and non-porous.

Lb:jimlad:

Sausage said:

Some cracking housing there. Such a waste. Loving the building with the H girder above the door - would love to do that at home.

Click to expand...

Ta for your interest.

With such a girder above your door, that would be one big mumma of a hanging basket?!!

Lb:jimlad:

more on park road

Hi, I spotted a surge of traffic on my blog for the date this post was placed in your forum, I was the person who did a blog post about the fake plane crash on Park Road and did a post about it (sorry about the crap bits of it!)...

anyway, I worked on Park Road, and thought you might like to see some images of the house being demolished....

10 Dec 2006:





16 Feb 2007:

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for getting in touch, as well as for sharing your photos with us here. Good to see, yet sad at the same time to think that all those nice houses have gone forever

Lb :jimlad:

P.s. Welcome to DP by the way!