Entrance to Marble Arch tunnel

Let’s go for a little walk … not under the moon of love, but down the Marble Arch tunnel on Leeman Road.

You can always rely on these pages to take you to some glamorous and exotic places.

Though so much of York is prettified and gentrified, this place remains proper ‘gritty’ and grubby. Already unwelcoming, now with one of those bossy signs added for good measure. I’m wondering if this old pedestrian tunnel under the railway lines can ever be enhanced.

Once you’re in it, or rather when you’re nearly at the other end of it, it does have a certain photogenic quality, if the sun’s in the right place and shining off its white glazed bricks.

In the Marble Arch tunnel

I had a quick walk down this way one sunny evening a few weeks back, 19 April, to see what had been occurring in terms of the demolition work on the York Central site.

If you turn left after the tunnel there’s an alleyway, Cinder Lane, which cuts through round the edge of the York Central site. I’ve walked up here a few times before.

It still grows a good crop of wildflowers, in crevices in its old brickwork.

Wild things in the wall, Cinder Lane

It still has the Cinder Lane shed. Which I’ve admired many times, lovely wonky old thing.

Recently, in reports submitted as part the York Central redevelopment, I’ve seen it referred to as the Fire House.

Old shed – known as the Fire House, apparently

It’s considered interesting enough to keep, though it seems it’s going to be dismantled and moved elsewhere.

This small timber shed off Cinder Lane appears on maps of 1930s but may be older. Known to Network Rail as the Fire House it is currently assumed to have stored a fire engine.

It is recommended the shed should be carefully recorded and dismantled for re-erection elsewhere in York Central. Suggested locations might include the Foundry Yard or Central Park.

– York Central design guide

I wonder how this will work. It looks like it might collapse into itself as soon as one part is lifted from it, but then I’m no expert. I do recall though reading of other historic structures removed in the past that were supposed to be reused, and which weren’t, perhaps because they got stuck in a corner in storage somewhere and forgotten about.

Anyway, nice to know that I wasn’t alone in finding this wooden shed rather interesting.

If we continue along Cinder Lane, the footbridge over the railway gives a view I’m rather fond of. I’ve included a similar photo in the past, but went to have a look again, before it changes.

Former wagon repair works/Freightliner

Several disused buildings are to be demolished, and this is one of them.

I wonder if the structures built in its place will have the same kind of charm, in the evening sunlight. I wonder if they’ll block the view out from here towards Holgate and Poppleton Road school. Probably. And the view back this way, which I always appreciate, when cycling back from Acomb and turning into Water End, with railway buildings and railway lines and the Minster in the distance.

Anyway, time to head back to look at York Central from another angle. Appreciating, on the way, a wild plant that still hangs on in here, on the top of the wall, by the rusty old railings.

Herb Robert, Cinder Lane

Back in 2012 I included a photo of it, here in Cinder Lane, but back then I didn’t know what it was called. I now know that it’s Herb Robert, and that it likes growing in my back garden. In more favourable conditions, its leaves are green.

My walk continued along part of Leeman Road. More to follow. Possibly tomorrow even. Maybe a ‘May daily’ …

The post Cinder Lane, the Fire House, and York Central appeared first on York Stories.

Station front and Queen Street bridge from city walls, October 2018

Previously, some weeks back, we were pondering the reactions to plans for the hugely complex site behind the railway station, known as York Central. As there’s now a planning application in for the hugely complex site in front of the railway station, time for a quick look at that.

Let’s head out through the station entrance and past the taxis and the bus stops, and into the fresh air (well, kind of). Here we have the city walls, with Queen Street bridge taking us round the corner of the walls towards Micklegate Bar, and passing the Railway Institute buildings.

The planning application for the changes in this area can be found on this link:

19/00535/FULM | York Station Frontage

(or go to https://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/ and put 19/00535/FULM in the search box). There’s also an associated application: 19/00542/LBC (Listed Building Consent).

Under these plans, Queen Street Bridge would be demolished, something I covered at some length some months back, and the part of the plans I find most interesting. But the very long description of this application on the planning portal shows the extent of the planned changes:

‘Demolition of Queen Street Bridge and construction of new highway; reinstatement and construction of earth ramparts and retaining walls to part of the City Wall. Demolition of pedestrian bridge and works to the York Railway Institute elevation; demolition of Band Room. Construction of two-deck car park. Part demolition station building (Parcel Square) and construction of a new facade, roof and canopy and associated works to retained elevations. Public realm and highway improvements along Queen Street and Station Road. Demolition of Unipart Rail Service Centre building and construction of temporary surface car park, alterations to existing car park and taxi drop-off arrangements.’

So that’s quite complicated, isn’t it. There are many documents covering this major development. I’ve looked at only a few, and thought I’d mention a few aspects that caught my attention, in a huge amount of information on what is a major development in a historically sensitive area. I hope other websites/local media will cover this planning application more in due course, perhaps.

The view from Queen Street

The proposed removal of the redundant Queen Street Bridge will obviously involve major disruption for a long period of time, so any enhancements it offers to the local landscape and the way we travel around it need to be considerable for it to be worthwhile.

Local media coverage has tended to focus on views of and from the area immediately outside the station. I was interested in seeing representations of how it might look, and how it might work, on Queen Street, approaching the station from Blossom Street.

As I don’t have a photo I’ve turned to Google Street View for a an image of how it looks at present:

Queen Street, Google Street View, July 2018

And here’s how it might look, according to an image in the Design and Access statement submitted as part of the planning application:

Proposals for Queen Street, from the Design and Access Statement (ref 19/00535/FULM)

The removal of the bridge makes way for a flatter and wider road. The pavement on the left looks very wide too, while the cycle lane looks narrow and squashed in next to the traffic, as it is at present.

Perhaps better for cars, buses, taxis etc? But it doesn’t look like an improvement for cyclists.

And of course the image above doesn’t show the inevitable forest of road signs etc that will clutter up that clean-looking space.

The removal of the bridge will give a better view of the station, and one of the Railway Institute buildings. Which leads on to another important aspect of these plans …

Railway Institute band room demolition

These plans, if approved, would mean that the RI would lose a small building they currently use as a band room, which is between the larger buildings, and is to be demolished. Comments on the planning application include quite a few objections, understandably, from members who use this facility and emphasise its importance.

Clearly no demolition should take place until an alternative facility is available to them, acceptable to them, and in use.

Land ownership

Extract from the owhership schedule, York Station frontage plans

In the list of documents submitted with the planning application there’s a ‘Land Ownership Schedule’, which caught my attention.

The document gives an interesting insight into the complexities of what we tend not to think about when travelling across or spending time in this area of land around the front of York station – who owns the various bits of land. Various freehold owners and leaseholders are listed, including those you might expect, like City of York Council, and Network Rail, but there are many ‘unknowns’, and various complicated layers, including the ‘subsoil rights’.

The hotel building alongside the station appears on the list a few times, called the Principal Hotel and the Royal York Hotel, and perhaps remembered by many residents as the Station Hotel. It apparently has large cellars, stretching under the station’s Tea Room Square and it also has ‘Cellars in Footways and Highway – Station Road’. The ‘Owner of surface and subsoil’ is ‘Unknown’ for the bit under the footways and highway.

Rather standing out as a reminder of times past is the interestingly-named ‘Imperial Tobacco Pension Trustees Ltd and Imperial Investments Limited’ – ‘Freehold owner of the cellars at the Royal York Hotel.’

Tea Room Square’s ownership complexities even include an entry for who owns ‘subsoil rights below and above Principal Hotel cellars’.

The nearby cholera burial ground is in there too, its freehold ownership ‘unknown’.

Then we’re back into the complicated layers when it comes to Queen Street Bridge. The ‘Owner of bridge and the parcel of land under the bridge arches (unregistered)’ is Network Rail, and the ‘Owner of part of land beneath north footpath and substructure’ is City of York Council.

Extract, owhership schedule, York Station front

After all these subsoil layers, unknowns, and complexities it’s reassuring to note that the owner of ‘York City Walls and Embankments’ is ‘The Council of the City of York’.

The route of the railway lines

I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I had mixed feelings about the demolition of Queen Street bridge was because its arches, when viewed from underneath (from the level of the station’s car park), helped to highlight the original line of the railway lines through the walls to the old station (now West Offices). It was therefore pleasing to see that the Design and Access statement suggests ‘feature paving following the route of the former railway lines’. An image is included of how this might look:

From the Design and Access statement (part 2)

An essential detail, I reckon. Even better if these could be steel rather than shiny stone.

And a multi-storey car park …

Comments on the planning application include concerns about the proposed new car park. Historic England’s response to the plans (PDF here) highlights that they are rather surprised at the lack of detail and information on this aspect:

‘on the basis of the drawings provided we have to question whether it is desirable or appropriate to construct the multi storey car park using a faux medieval design approach.’

I’m struggling to imagine a faux medieval car park, and though I could go off to find the relevant document on the planning portal, this page is long enough already, so I won’t.

We need to rush off towards town, towards many other stories, and attempt to catch up on all the things I’ve been trying to get something written about for months.

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Previously, some weeks back, I left us standing by the riverside admiring Scarborough Bridge. I had intended to stay by the riverside, and focus on proposed flood defence works, but the flow of planned pages was interrupted, and the writing dried up for a bit as I had to attend to other commitments. But let’s take up near to where we left off. As Scarborough Bridge is so close to the railway station, and there are significant developments in plans for the land around it, let’s hang around the station area for a while.

From Scarborough Bridge we can head off up the path by the sorting office, and up the cycle/pedestrian path to access the station from one end. Across the platforms at this end, as pictured above, we can see through to part of the National Railway Museum and one edge of the piece of land known as York Central. I’ve written about it many times in the past, but not recently.

As was widely reported in the media last month, the outline planning application for this huge and complex site was approved by the planning committee on 25 March. That’s obviously a major milestone in what has been a long-running project. Reaction has been rather mixed, and interesting, and I wanted to write something about that, and some coverage of it in the Yorkshire Post this week.

A year ago today, 27 April 2018, I paid a visit to the My York Central exhibition/consultation event at the NRM on the York Central plans. The display boards were covered by an impressive number of post-it notes, with many ideas and responses.

Post-it notes on exhibition boards at the NRM, 27 April 2018

Clearly many people put a lot of time and effort into engaging with the plans, wanting to help shape them.

It’s important to acknowledge the huge amount of work that has gone in to this project to develop the large area of land behind the station. It’s important to acknowledge how long it has taken, in terms of years, and in terms of the many hours of work by many individuals, organisations, companies over that time, and particularly in the last year or so.

Many of the people who worked on putting the outline planning application together have been handsomely rewarded financially. It’s also important to recognise that many people, whether as part of a group or as individuals, put in a commitment, many hours, and didn’t get paid for that, but did the work because they care about the future of the city.

I wasn’t one of them, I’ve had to focus my energies elsewhere, but have done my best to keep up with happenings, including watching parts of the webcast of the planning meeting to decide whether to approve the outline plans.

The meeting included excellent and passionate speakers, and many strong objections.

But of course, by that stage, it would be approved. This long-running saga of the old ‘teardrop’ site has been going on for years, and so much work and time has gone into getting it to the stage of an actual outline application.

I’m not on Twitter much these days, but did check it for comment and reaction during the planning meeting and in the day or two afterwards, as the news of the application approval was reported. Anger and dismay was expressed in many tweets from local residents who had campaigned against various aspects of the plans, with things getting a bit heated and personal at one stage, on Twitter (as things so often do on Twitter).

Alongside the anger, and forming a striking contrast, were many celebratory and triumphant comments from organisations and companies who had been involved in developing the plans to this stage, pleased that the plans had been approved. It looked like a complete divide, opposing views.

I looked for something that might balance it out, from someone who knows the city well and has been observing the city and its goings-on for longer than I have. In such situations I often look to see what Steve Galloway thinks. His view is that ‘the progress made in bringing forward the site will probably be recorded by history as the major achievement of the current Council coalition administration.’

Still another stage to go through yet, however, as a call-in request means Communities Secretary James Brokenshire is considering the plans, and could order a public inquiry to scrutinise the project, as reported in the Yorkshire Post earlier this week.

York Civic Trust and the city’s MP Rachael Maskell are opposed to the plans, and support a call-in and further scrutiny. As would many of the people who spoke at the meeting on 25 March, I would assume.

On the other hand, the Yorkshire Post reports that

‘two Yorkshire council leaders, Wakefield’s Peter Box and Bradford’s Susan Hinchcliffe, have now written to the Minister along with Ben Still, the director of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, to reassure him about the level of support for York Central.’

I’ll just leave that there, and you, dear readers, can decide who might know best about the level of support, whose support is being referred to, etc. Otherwise I might start going on about ownership and cultural significance, etc, again.

The Yorkshire Post too has a view, presumably in response to the above, published a couple of days ago (25 April). Headed ‘The Yorkshire Post says: Landmark York Central development offers county-wide benefits’, it refers to the ‘political, business and civic leaders from across Yorkshire who want to maximise the benefits that can be accrued’.

The development opportunities of York Central seem to have been enthusiastically embraced by many, but it does rather look like this huge development is something on its own, a kind of separate thing to the city, and that it has failed to connect to the energies around it, those demonstrated by the passionate people who had high hopes for the site.

I’d prefer to think that this important place, once a thriving industrial area, a heart of York, still felt like ‘ours’, something the people of York will feel connected to, proud of, fond of, part of. It’s not looking that way at present. I hope that in time that will change.

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Footnote

York Stories is my personal perspective on York and its changes. It has been online for 15 years in various forms, updated frequently sometimes, at other times with quite long gaps between its observations/musings. I’ve been online browsing, connected to this thing called the internet, for 20 years. Among the increasing amount of content and all the sound and fury of social media I find I appreciate more the more thoughtful things I find,  a considered view, a long view. As a York born-and-bred person who has memories of this city going back to the 1970s I do my best to add my bit to the online world in a thoughtful kind of fashion, and keep the angry/opinionated stuff to offline discussions at the kitchen table. If you’d like to support this online thing, with its monthly hosting bills and its generally tranquil and advert-free environment, your virtual coffees are always appreciated – essential actually – in keeping it online.

The post York Central update: reaction to outline planning approval, from York and beyond appeared first on York Stories.

Work begins on Scarborough Bridge (4 Dec 2018)

From one bridge, linked with the lines into the old station, to another bridge, carrying the York-Scarborough line into the current station.

Hurrah, the Scarborough Bridge upgrade has begun, the long-wished-for replacement of the cramped and inadequate pedestrian part of it. Work on the replacement structure, the fully accessible and rising-above-the-floods structure, is now underway. As far as I’m concerned this is probably one of the most exciting things that’s occurred in the local landscape in all the years I’ve been burbling on about York here on these pages.

A bridge is always a good thing, and new bridges across rivers are a particularly remarkable thing, and when they’re attached to a railway line they’re an even better thing, and when they’ll be used by as many people as this new upgraded one will be … well, I think it’s chuffing marvellous.

I’ve been along a few times over recent weeks to see if there was anything noticeably changed. I approached from the Marygate side. By late November most of the vegetation on the embankments had been cleared in the areas closest to the bridge. Here’s the Marygate side of the river:

Clearance work on the Marygate side of the bridge, 30 Nov 2018

A more impressive and striking view presented itself on my earlier wander that way, a few days before, when after peering through the fences on the Marygate side I turned around to cross the bridge to the station side, and saw the clearance work there:

Vegetation clearance by Scarborough Bridge reveals view of York Station (26 Nov 2018)

Normally I’d feel saddened by the sight of felled trees, but here, I wonder why those trees and the rather dull and litter-filled shrubbery were ever planted in the first place, because all that time they were blocking the view of the station. I stood there a while just looking across, beginning to get a better idea of how the whole new bridge deck was going to work here, what new angles on things it will open up. Looking at documents online isn’t quite the same as standing there and seeing the familiar view changed.

Then, on the bridge. The light wasn’t good by this point, so some digital enhancement of this photo was needed, but again, good to see the way being cleared for this narrow walkway I was on being replaced with something much wider and going straight across here …

From Scarborough Bridge, looking towards the station, 26 Nov 2018

… instead of ending at gloomy narrow steps, which we have to go down, then round a corner, up an alleyway and up a zigzag ramp to get to the end of the station. Imagine bypassing all that and going straight across from here, to the end of the station visible in the background, behind the steel fencing …

Scarborough Bridge: from the top of the steps (station end), 26 Nov 2018

But for now let’s take the existing route, going down the steps, to the corner of the alley by the sorting office, for a closer look at the clearance work on this side.

Vegetation clearance, by Scarborough Bridge, 26 Nov 2018

Then up the alleyway by the side of the sorting office, and up the zigzag ramp constructed a few years back. At its landing halfway up there’s a large steel fence stretching across, where we can look back towards Scarborough Bridge, and the rooftops beyond it.

From the edge of the station cycle ramp, looking back towards the bridge, 26 Nov 2018

When the steel fencing has gone, and the new accessible bridge comes in here, we might be better able to appreciate the rather nice view of the rooftops of the Bootham/Clifton area, with the spire of Clifton Methodist Church a clear landmark.

I’ve been surprised to see comments online recently from people who still think that the Scarborough Bridge upgrade work isn’t necessary, is a waste of money. I guess they’re people who don’t use it very often. The people who do rely on it to cross the river here, we know how difficult it is for so many people, and we all stand there being patient while parents struggle with getting pushchairs up the steps, and people with bikes try to push them as quickly as possible up the narrow bit of concrete at the side of the steps, and of course we never see anyone in a wheelchair crossing this bridge, because they can’t. For a major river crossing so close to a railway station in a city like York this is a ridiculous situation in the 21st century. So is the fact that any time there’s severe flooding the pedestrian part is inaccessible to everyone, as the bottom of the steps are covered in floodwater and outside the floodgate.

As shown in this photo, taken during the floods in September 2012:

Scarborough Bridge, steps inaccessible, during the September 2012 floods

And in this photo, taken during the floods in December 2015:

Scarborough Bridge, steps inaccessible, during the December 2015 floods

The new bridge, as it doesn’t rely on stepped access so close to the river, will still be accessible when the Ouse floods, as it does quite often.

Concerns were also raised about the heritage impact, in that the bridge work involves removing some of the stonework. Well, quite a bit of it. The parts being removed, those tall bits towering above the current pedestrian deck, aren’t, in my opinion, particularly beautiful. And, it has to be stressed, this bridge has been altered several times in its history, and doesn’t look like it did when first built. (See further information, below, for more on that.)

Since funding was secured, last year, there has been impressively quick progress on this project. It’s not that long since I wrote about the consultation on the ideas for the bridge upgrade, in July 2017, and then the submitted planning application, a year ago, in December 2017. The planning application was approved in March this year, and now here we are in the last month of 2018 with construction workers on site, working overnight at times, to get the work completed during the early months of 2019.

Further information

Scarborough Bridge, York, Statement of Significance (PDF). Prepared for Network Rail, October 2017 — discusses in some detail the many changes to the bridge since it was originally built, with plans and old photographs. Very clear and helpful in understanding those changes.

There were many interesting documents submitted with the planning application for this bridge work. They can be found on the planning portal: 17/03049/FULM. The report prepared for the planning committee meeting is a useful summary.

For my earlier pages on Scarborough Bridge, including historical notes, see all pages tagged Scarborough Bridge.

If you’re thinking that this work on Scarborough Bridge thing sounds familiar, from a few years back … it was the rail decks that were replaced at that time, the pedestrian walkway work had to wait until funding was available.

. . . . .

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The post Scarborough Bridge upgrade: photos and notes, as work begins appeared first on York Stories.

Queen Street bridge, with the railway station behind, from the city walls, 26 Nov 2018

From Hudson House, built on part of the old railway station site, just inside the city walls, to Queen Street bridge, close to the current railway station, just outside the city walls.

Hudson House has been demolished, and it looks likely that Queen Street bridge will also be demolished, as part of the plans for the station front and the area around it.

This was on the agenda at the recent council executive meeting on 29 November. The report prepared for it (PDF on this link) ‘sets out progress to date on the above scheme and seeks approval to submit a planning application and proceed to work with partners on the detailed scheme in the Spring’. As approval was granted, a planning application for changes in this area will follow in due course.

There are many aspects to the proposals. A consultation over the summer provided information on the various aspects of the redesign, which looks interesting and has been generally welcomed (though there are some specific concerns, raised at the meeting this week, more on that later perhaps).

Here on York Stories I’ve often liked to focus on lesser-known aspects of the local environment, and Queen Street bridge probably comes in to that category.

The bridge on Queen Street was built to cross the railway lines that once went through the city walls to the old station (see the previous page). The site of the old station has changed a lot over the years, and no longer has railway lines. Queen Street Bridge has therefore been redundant as a bridge for many decades.

Here’s a photo from the archives taken from Queen Street bridge, showing the railway lines going under it and through the city walls.

How it used to be around here: taken from Queen St bridge, showing the railway lines still in use through the arches in the city walls (source & more info)

I’ve taken many photos on and around Queen Street bridge, and was pleased to find that I have one that’s taken from more or less the same place, as it looked this summer, 2018:

Taken from Queen St bridge, showing the arch in the city walls in Aug 2018. Hudson House development site beyond

The Hudson House site is visible through the archway, and in the background so is the end of West Offices.

Queen Street bridge isn’t generally recognised as a bridge, these days, and that’s not surprising, as many of us will have never seen anything travelling underneath it. I remember as a teenager catching buses from Acomb into town, and how the buses would follow this bit of road close to the city walls, rounding the corner here, with the station building mainly below, and I never gave it a thought. It was just a bit of road. An elevated bit of road.

It takes a while to fully appreciate the histories/levels/layers of a place.

Queen Street bridge, looking towards the Railway Institute, 1 July 2018

The bridge was built in 1877-8, close to the corner of the city walls, surprisingly close.

Anyone looking down on the bridge from the city walls might notice that between the old stone of the walls and the rather more recent bridge are these steps, at one time accessed from a gate on the bridge. Another apparently more recent gate has also been added at the top of the steps.

Steps, and litter, between Queen Street bridge and the city walls, 3 Oct 2018

I wonder how long it is since anyone went up or down these steps. This stepped area appears to be serving no purpose apart from being an informal litter bin, a dead debris-collecting space.

The demolition of the bridge would open up views of this part of the city walls, the arches here, where the trains used to come in.

On Queen Street bridge, looking down on the archways cut through the city walls (1 July 2018)

On Queen Street bridge, looking down on archways cut through the city walls (1 July 2018)

The bridge has clearly changed a bit since it was built, and from above just looks quite modern and concretey.

Queen Street bridge, looking from the city walls, 26 Nov 2018

Further information from York Civic Trust explains some of the history of the bridge and why it now looks more modern and concretey:

The bridge, built in 1877-8 to replace a level crossing which had existed since 1839, served to admit railway tracks across this street into a railway terminal depot within the city wall. Although new station facilities were provided outwith the City Walls with the opening of the current station in 1877, the North Eastern Railway (NER) wished to retain railway access across Queen Street, although their use of the tracks would be considerably reduced. Railway use of the level crossing fell considerably with the opening of the 1877 station, road use however rose greatly, so the bridge was built at the behest of York Corporation during 1877-8. The Bridge was modified in 1909, with the two northernmost arches being replaced by a single steel-girder span. In conjunction with the corporation having acquired horse-drawn street tramways, and a move to electrify them, the bridge was widened by moving the pedestrian footways out onto extensions flanking either side of the bridge. These were constructed at the city’s expense using reinforced-concrete stanchions; a good relation had existed for some years between the NER and the ‘Hennebique ferro-concrete’ consultant L.G. Mouchel. The bridge ceased to span railway tracks in the mid-1960s with the building of Hudson House. By the 1970s, the concrete structure was beginning to pull away from the original bridge, possibly as a result of vehicles mounting the pavement, so work was carried out to bond these back in and address damage to the bridge parapets.

(source (PDF))

There is impressive 19th century brickwork underneath it, in parts of the tunnels visible from the level of the station car park alongside. But from all other angles it looks rather awkward now, a concretey thing rising up out of car park and blocked off with steel fencing.

Queen St bridge from the car park area by the station, city walls and RI buildings behind, 16 Feb 2016

All it does is to restrict all the traffic here to using it, while there’s a lot of land just below it and around it that could be remodelled to fit better with the needs of the 21st century city.

Queen St bridge from the access road through the Railway Institute buildings, 16 Feb 2016

Walking round the walls from Micklegate Bar to the front of the station and looking outwards from the walls it’s clear what space could be opened up if it wasn’t here. It’s not just the bit in the corner, noticeably raised up for the tunnels below for the trains, but the whole slope into it. On the city walls walkway, not far from Micklegate Bar, Queen Street starts to rise up in level to meet the bridge that once crossed railway lines:

From the walls, not far from Micklegate Bar, the road rises towards Queen St bridge (26 Nov 2018)

Then we approach the corner, with the Railway Institute buildings (several, of various dates) in their proud position, close to the ‘new’ (current) railway station.

Railway Institute buildings and Queen Street bridge, looking from the city walls, 26 Nov 2018

Then we’re at the corner of the city’s historic walls, with the end of the railway station platforms on the right, and the Railway Institute buildings straight ahead.

Railway Institute buildings and Queen Street bridge, looking from the city walls, 26 Nov 2018

Back in early 2016, when a public consultation on plans for the whole York Central/station area asked for our views, there were concerns about the future of the Railway Institute buildings. Back then I wrote about those buildings and Queen Street bridge, and felt quite strongly that none of these structures should be demolished, as they’re so important in illustrating the railway heritage here, and the line of the old lines in to the old station.

But since then, as we have had more detailed plans of how changes here might make better use of the space, and benefit everyone who uses the current station, and travels to it and past it (whether in vehicles, on foot, or by bike), I can see that the demolition of Queen Street’s bridge does make sense.

More importantly, in the wider plans, the Railway Institute buildings are to stay in place, though one small building, the band room, looks likely to be demolished, as a planned road won’t fit round it.

Much more could be said about the wider plans for the area, and many interesting comments were raised in the discussion at the executive meeting this week. More later perhaps on other aspects.

For now though, I want to zoom in on the previous image …

Queen Street bridge, cycle lane ‘END’, 26 Nov 2018

In the middle of Queen Street’s bridge, somewhat randomly, a marked cycle lane on the road reaches its ‘END’.

Quite what people cycling here are supposed to do at this point isn’t clear. It’s the old-style ‘we’ve done our best on this cycle lane thing, but, oops sorry, that’s it for now. There might be a bit more further down, not sure.’

If the bridge is demolished then it makes more space for everyone. This space should I hope work better for all road users, and pedestrians.

On the 2016 page focused on this area I wanted to see the bridge kept because its arches underneath seemed like they’d provide a good traffic-free route for cyclists, if opened up rather than fenced off and blocked. I imagined us being able to cycle through them and the arches in the city walls here, along the remaining access road to the side of the Hudson House site, to the NER war memorial and West Offices.

Some of the information provided in the consultation this summer included a diagram suggesting this link past Hudson House might be part of the redesign of the wider area. Other plans didn’t include this link. So I’m not sure whether it’s part of the plans or not.

The planning application documents I’ve since looked at relating to the Hudson House development indicate that the site, as bought by Palace Capital, includes the part of the access road alongside it. In other words, as I understand it, it’s private land.

For the sake of the city’s heritage, and our understanding of it, I hope that this line of travel will be part of the wider scheme. If the removal of Queen Street bridge is supposed to help us better appreciate the heritage/cultural value of those 19th century arches cut through the walls — which is one of the reasons given for the bridge’s demolition — then cycle/pedestrian lines of travel through them, and to the old station they served, are a crucial part of it. We can look at them already, from the bridge, as I’ve pictured above. Travelling through them, like the trains used to, that’s the bit I’m interested in.

No doubt it will become clearer in due course …

… But for now, I’m really keen to move on to another bridge, and exciting developments there, at last. Enhancement, replacement, and long awaited … (update: ooh, here’s that page.)

. . . . .

York Stories is a resident’s record of York and its changes. I write about what I know, and raise questions about what I don’t know. I recognise, as many people do, the value of local knowledge, and do my best here to share the perspectives and thoughts of this particular resident, born in the city in the late 1960s, observing the changes. I’ve always aimed to represent things as clearly as possible to as wide a readership as possible, as accurately as possible. It takes a while to do that, and to reach the standard I always aim for. If you’ve found it of value then virtual coffees are always appreciated. Thanks to everyone who supports these York Stories in this way.

The post Queen Street bridge, and the station front plans appeared first on York Stories.

Hudson House demolition, September 2018

One of the most interesting changes in the city centre over recent months has been the demolition of Hudson House, an office block built by British Rail in the late 1960s, between Toft Green and the city walls.

Hudson House was one of my ‘office block studies‘ a few years back. It looked for a time like it might be kept and converted to residential use, as many other office blocks of a similar period have been, but a later planning application was made for demolition and a complete new build on the site.

I went along to have a look at the demolition in progress many times over the summer and autumn months. The walkway along the city walls gave a good view across the site, as the building was gradually reduced to piles of rubble and cleared from the landscape.

The removal of Hudson House has made it easier to appreciate and understand the site of the old station. As anyone interested in York’s history will probably know, York’s earlier  railway station — opened in 1841 — was built in this area within the walls (replaced a few decades later by the station still in use, outside the walls). Part of the old railway station remains, the historic buildings incorporated in the recent redevelopment of West Offices. Hudson House was built in the late 1960s across the other part of the old station site.

This old postcard image illustrates the area before Hudson House was built. We’re looking towards the city centre, the city walls are on the left and the white stone obelisk of the NER war memorial is a landmark just inside the city walls.

The old station, and the lines into it (source)

The old station apparently kept its railway lines and was used for carriage storage long after the ‘new’ station had replaced it.

It took me a while to find a comparison view among the hundreds of photos I’ve taken of the site in recent months. Here’s one from August this year, from about the same place on the city walls, when much of the bulk of Hudson House had been cleared.

Looking towards the old station (West Offices), across the Hudson House demolition site, 21 Aug 2018

From this angle, the ‘old station’ looks very much 21st century, because of the recent additions to the original station building, in the West Offices redevelopment. In the foreground is another relatively new office building. Between them is where Hudson House used to be. Its clearance makes clearer the way the 21st century redevelopment of the old station/West Offices reflects the older building, still looking like it’s respecting the long-ago-removed railway lines and the orientation of the old station. It was more difficult to appreciate that when Hudson House was in the way.

Here’s a reminder of how Hudson House occupied this piece of land inside the city walls. A bit of West Offices is visible behind it. As in the previous two photos, the city walls and the NER war memorial are reference points, to the left.

Looking towards the Minster from the city walls, with Hudson House on the right, 1 June 2013

Hudson House was quite a dominant building, wasn’t it.

Its demolition down to ground level has opened up again this area of land inside the city walls, where at one time the trains came in.

From the walls: Hudson House demolition underway, 1 July 2018

Perhaps the most interesting comparison came from looking straight across the site from the city walls walkway towards Toft Green. After I’d wandered along here for a look a few times I realised that it would be sensible to take some photos from roughly the same point, as demolition progressed. An access gate in the hoardings around the demolition site was one of my reference points.

Hudson House demolition, viewed from the walls, looking towards Toft Green, 9 September 2018

As the demolition continued, I realised that the gate happened to line up with the York Brewery building on Toft Green. In an earlier page I included a photo of Hudson House reflected in its windows. The York Brewery’s white-painted front became more visible, as Hudson House came down, in stages.

Hudson House demolition, viewed from the walls, looking towards Toft Green, 19 September 2018

Hudson House demolition, viewed from the walls, looking towards Toft Green, 20 October 2018

Hudson House demolition, viewed from the walls, looking towards Toft Green, 11 November 2018

Now Hudson House is gone it’s much clearer that ground level here is much lower, not just from the perspective of the city walls, but from the street of Toft Green, on the other side.

The people and vans outside York Brewery on Toft Green are at street level, some metres above the ground level of the old station.

Down to ground level on the Hudson House (old station) site, with Toft Green in the background, 11 Nov 2018

Looking across here should perhaps make us think of the earth that was moved to make a railway station, in the first half of the 19th century, when that exciting new thing called the railway cut in through the landscape. It was thought so important that it carved its way right into the heart of the city, through the historic walls, cutting holes through them too.

Many men and many hours of hard graft it would have taken to do this work, before the invention of the kind of machinery we have now.

That 21st century demolition machinery was something to observe in itself. I’ve not watched these machines before, the way the heads can turn on different angles, like creatures grazing, taking bites out of the concrete.

A man passing by while I was taking photos told his companion that they’re called ‘giraffes’. I can see why. Here’s one resting, after a busy day chomping on concrete.

Hudson House demolition, machinery resting, 21 Aug 2018

After looking at the demolition site from the vantage point of the city walls it made sense to descend from the walls at Micklegate Bar to have a look from the Toft Green side.

While the work was taking place the site was screened so there was nothing much to see, but now the whole building has gone the change is quite dramatic.

Here’s a ‘before’ photo, from summer 2014, taken from Toft Green:

Toft Green, with Hudson House prominent, August 2014

And ‘after’, taken earlier this month:

Toft Green, with Hudson House demolished, November 2018

Quite a ‘gap’ there now on the left.

There wasn’t much light available when I took the photo above, late in the afternoon on a November day, but what light there was will I imagine be reaching into neighbouring buildings in a way it hasn’t done for a long while, with Hudson House looming over things for the last 50 years.

Soon, of course, new tall buildings will replace the old tall buildings.

For now, in November 2018, looking down into the site from Toft Green, interesting remnants of what was below Hudson House are visible. Some archaeological investigation has been taking place here.

What lies beneath: Hudson House site clearance, Nov 2018

I’d been wondering whether the new development to be built on the site would keep the name or change it. I noticed a while back that the old name had been removed from a sign just over the other side of the city walls, on nearby Queen Street.

Hudson House sign, 1 July 2018, Queen Street

Hudson House sign, name erased, 20 Oct 2018, Queen Street

The new name is now prominent on the advertising hoardings around the site.

Advertising hoarding for Hudson Quarter, Nov 2018

The ‘Hudson Quarter’ is apparently going to include a new pedestrian access through from Toft Green to the station area. I’ll believe that when we can actually access it and find it goes from one useful place to another useful place. I hope that’s the case, but these things don’t always join up.

For now, I’ll end this page with a couple more photos of the end of that late 1960s building we knew as Hudson House.

I have quite a lot of photos of its crumpled concrete.

The moon landed on it at one point, in the glowing evening sun …

Hudson House remnants, and moon, 21 Aug 2018

And later, pigeons, settled in the sun, at the end of the day, when the ‘giraffes’ were resting.

Hudson House demolition, with pigeons, 9 Sept 2018

My father, who died last year, worked in the railway offices nearby, and would have seen Hudson House being built. I was born at around the same time. These British Rail offices on the site of the old station were part of my childhood and teenage years, and walking along the walls by Hudson House meant seeing so many people sitting at their desks, in that huge office block.

So much has changed since.

It felt important, to me, to observe and photograph the end of Hudson House.

. . . . .

I’m adding to these pages when I feel I have something original/interesting to add to the wealth of online content already available. It sometimes takes a while to properly cover things I’m interested in, as in this case. If you’d like notifications of new things appearing on this website, please join the mailing list.

Looking at the archive reminds me that it’s seven years ago today that this personal website (online in some form since 2004) went blog-like (though I’ve never really liked the word ‘blog’). My first blog-like post was a scan of a photo of the floods in 1978.

If you’d like to support what this 1960s-created weathered old structure known as ‘Lisa@YorkStories‘ has created and maintained online here at www.yorkstories.co.uk then virtual coffees are always welcome.

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