Is anyone else fascinated by this kind of building?
September 26, 2024
Is anyone else fascinated by this kind of building?
by Matthew_Hopkins_
21 comments
This is Queensway House (as you can see), in Billingham, west of Middlesbrough, built in 1966. There are a lot of buildings like this around Teesside and ever since I was small, driving past I’ve always found them kind of fascinating. The ugly, 60s, Brutalist-style architecture, the drab colours. I’m so curious, I want to go and look around inside. I wonder how dated the decor is and what the (semi) abandoned ambience is like. I imagine these buildings as almost completely disused. They seem to be from what I can tell from looking at the windows day or night, and the nearby car parks.
It’s not exactly liminal space, not exactly Urbex or Abandoned but maybe an adjacent genre?
Edit: the sign font adds a lot to the atmosphere as well. Funny how fonts age so fast. To anyone in the area, Billingham and Newton Aycliffe shopping areas still have some shop signs from the early 90s if not 80s, and there’s such an impact to seeing those old fonts.
Had a couple like this in my town, I believe they’ve all been knocked down within the past 15 years and replaced with luxury flats.
If you’re that fascinated by the commieblock I recommend visiting Eastern Europe.
Looks like a lego house you build when you’re 6
disturbed more like
You mean there’s more of them?
Brutalist architecture. There are a lot of buildings like this in Norwich. Mostly drab and ugly, but some are kinda neat looking too, like the ziggurats at the UEA.
Needless to say, the ideas fell apart when they met reality headlong, and they were awful places.
Looks like my comprehensive school.
Pardon me but this is horrendous (as politely as I can put it).
The old Leeds Millgarth police station was essentially built on stilts because it straddled an underground river. You can see part of it through this gate on Google Streetview: https://maps.app.goo.gl/SESABgRCiCDeEUn7A. They had fun in the early 80s because the Yorkshire Ripper investigation generated so much paperwork that they had to reinforce a floor. I’m not sure why they didn’t just keep the records somewhere else.
most buildings that look like this seem to have the same musty/mouldy damp smell to them
This is how I would always make my homes in the sims.
Love a good bit of constructivist brutalism!
I always wonder what these places looked like when were first built. Did people go, wow , that’s looks so modern or … that looks shit.
I always like to think about the original drawings and models and how someone said “yep, that will do, build it”. I also like to imagine the man who signed it off looked like my old geography teacher with patches on his brown jacket and a ketchup stain on his tie.
21 comments
This is Queensway House (as you can see), in Billingham, west of Middlesbrough, built in 1966. There are a lot of buildings like this around Teesside and ever since I was small, driving past I’ve always found them kind of fascinating. The ugly, 60s, Brutalist-style architecture, the drab colours. I’m so curious, I want to go and look around inside. I wonder how dated the decor is and what the (semi) abandoned ambience is like. I imagine these buildings as almost completely disused. They seem to be from what I can tell from looking at the windows day or night, and the nearby car parks.
It’s not exactly liminal space, not exactly Urbex or Abandoned but maybe an adjacent genre?
Edit: the sign font adds a lot to the atmosphere as well. Funny how fonts age so fast. To anyone in the area, Billingham and Newton Aycliffe shopping areas still have some shop signs from the early 90s if not 80s, and there’s such an impact to seeing those old fonts.
Had a couple like this in my town, I believe they’ve all been knocked down within the past 15 years and replaced with luxury flats.
If you’re that fascinated by the commieblock I recommend visiting Eastern Europe.
Looks like a lego house you build when you’re 6
disturbed more like
You mean there’s more of them?
Brutalist architecture. There are a lot of buildings like this in Norwich. Mostly drab and ugly, but some are kinda neat looking too, like the ziggurats at the UEA.
Just like multi story car parks they TERRIFY me
You’d like r/brutalism
Looks like it’s based on [Le Corbusier’s Five Points of Architecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier%27s_Five_Points_of_Architecture) with the pilotis holding it up to allow people to meet and socialise under the building, maybe with market stalls and other enterprising ideas.
Needless to say, the ideas fell apart when they met reality headlong, and they were awful places.
Looks like my comprehensive school.
Pardon me but this is horrendous (as politely as I can put it).
The old Leeds Millgarth police station was essentially built on stilts because it straddled an underground river. You can see part of it through this gate on Google Streetview: https://maps.app.goo.gl/SESABgRCiCDeEUn7A. They had fun in the early 80s because the Yorkshire Ripper investigation generated so much paperwork that they had to reinforce a floor. I’m not sure why they didn’t just keep the records somewhere else.
most buildings that look like this seem to have the same musty/mouldy damp smell to them
This is how I would always make my homes in the sims.
Love a good bit of constructivist brutalism!
I always wonder what these places looked like when were first built. Did people go, wow , that’s looks so modern or … that looks shit.
I always like to think about the original drawings and models and how someone said “yep, that will do, build it”. I also like to imagine the man who signed it off looked like my old geography teacher with patches on his brown jacket and a ketchup stain on his tie.
I feel old. Haha
[Cumbernauld Shopping Centre](https://www.simonphipps.co.uk/case-studies/cumbernauld-town-centre-phase-1/)
Quite a shock seeing billog on reddit
I am more impressed by you driving as a child
They are depression in building form. So having said that, it’s worrying that I honestly find them oddly… comforting for some reason?
There’s so many odd little examples throughout Shields/Tyneside in the north east. Which explains a lot.