Earlier this month, one evening, I was dashing past the end of Parliament Street and noticed this new and rather beautiful view. Pleasing not only because of the way the evening light shines on the lantern tower of All Saints, Pavement, but also because of the satisfying contrast of colour and style between the ancient church and the ornate red brick and terracotta of the Barclays Bank building (dating from 1901, by Edmund Kirby).

Presumably this view was available to us in the past, before that strange little toilet block known as the Splash Palace was built. It dominated this end of Parliament Street. Since its recent demolition, this view is opened up to us again. From the corner near M&S we have pleasing architectural contrast across an open space.

Surprising to read that not everyone likes the change. A letter to The Press calls it ‘bleak and desolate’, down here at the end of Parliament Street.

There’s also a Facebook campaign to install a statue of Joseph Rowntree in this new open space. We do of course already have buildings, parks, charitable trusts, organisations and indeed the whole village of New Earswick, to remind us of the good work of Joseph and other members of the Rowntree family.

If he was here I reckon he’d say we should spend our money on looking after the living, as he did.

And he might also quite like the view as it is.

Your views on this view are welcome.

More information/links

More on Joseph Rowntree from the excellent website of The Rowntree Society. Which includes the information that his grave is marked by a simple Quaker gravestone. I get the impression Quakers aren’t big on grand memorials to mark their achievements in life.

More on York’s statues

See also

A video on YouTube includes a shot of this part of Parliament St (at around 1 min 22 in the film), before the ‘Splash Palace’ was built.

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I was passing the ‘Splash Palace’ demolition site yesterday, and couldn’t help noticing that the toilet block has almost completely gone, and that there’s a useful council-provided ‘What’s going on’ type announcement, attached to the fencing, which many people were reading. I stood beside a gentleman who was studying the information carefully.

I felt a bit silly to be so interested in a disappeared toilet block. Maybe he did too. As he walked off we exchanged thoughts on the toilet issue, bafflement mainly at why toilets were being demolished, when we already don’t have enough, and the ones we do have are so manky. I mentioned that we do have those ones in Silver Street, but that I wouldn’t bother as they cost ‘about 40p’, and we agreed that it was best to use the ones in Marks and Spencers, for free.

M&S presumably are fully aware of this, and that’s why they’ve located them in a far-flung corner of the top floor, and made them as small and pokey as possible, to deter us.

After he’d gone I noticed another sign attached to the fencing, an A4-sized home-made one, declaring this demolition a ’scandal’. Many people have expressed similar views in the comments sections of The Press website, but to actually make a sign and attach it to the railings requires far more effort. The fact that someone had I found quite cheering and amusing.

Underneath, added in biro – a plaintive and perhaps desperate message:
‘CAN U LET THE PUBLIC KNOW WHERE THE TOILETS ARE’

The post That toilet block again … appeared first on York Stories.

As most people probably know, the demolition of the ‘Splash Palace’ toilet block on Parliament Street is underway. To mark this not-very-interesting event, I have a dull photo from when we passed it on our Christmas Day walk to the windmill. Someone with a sense of humour decorated it with a string of festive lights (visible on the enlarged view). Perhaps in honour of its (not very) long service and in recognition of its imminent demolition.

I don’t go looking for videos about toilets, but happened to find that this one has been immortalised, via YouTube. This video, filmed a few years back, has clearly had a lot of views, so perhaps you’ve all seen it already. If not, it’s a glimpse inside the gents part of the toilets, and very funny. “There’s actually poo on the wall”. “And the sad thing is that it’s got potential.”

It was apparently the most popular of the series … and if you’re really interested, there’s another YouTube video of the creators discussing the filming of their memorable visit:
Commentary – York Episode – Worlds Most Shocking Toilets

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