LBH Planning portal shows that the Carpet Right store at 638 High Rd, N17, is to be reinstated (subject to approval) with an almost-identical copy of the riot-destroyed building.
See the plans and various design statements here.
"The preferred option for development is for the site to provide a ‘facsimile’ of the
previous building, based where possible on the original 1930s appearance. [...]
Accordingly, the proposed building is almost an exact replica of the original and the
bulk and mass is virtually identical to the previous building. The principal change
externally is the addition of a lift and stair enclosure to allow the introduction of a
wheelchair accessible lift and ambulant disabled compliant secondary escape stair."
Good decision, yes?
Im a bit sentimental... so I would like it to be a replica :)
Not just sentimental - the Co-op building was from a time when great design was valued more than price. Compare with any of the slabby blocks of flats that have gone up lately along the High Rd, especially those ones opposite CoNEL. And even worse, the crappy 60s and 70s (?) infill blocks just south of Wards Corner.
So it's fine when you to publish a damning, sweeping and inaccurate statement on a website with more than 4000 users. But then, when I suggest a few examples showing that - in point of fact - you are at least partly mistaken, you get grumpy. Don't you have even the lightest, slightest sliver of concern for facts and evidence?
Or is it just the Council's conservation work you dismiss?
I am not sure how I feel about this idea. I am in theory at least in favour of well designed new build rather than pastiche but, as Billy suggests, without money and vision this can just end in ugly unloved buildings that people can't wait to knock down 25 years later. A replica of the old Co-op building with perhaps some 'green' modifications would I think bring a sense of renewal and satisfy a desire to see a phoenix rising from the ashes. A part of me would also like to see a Co-Op there but that would be asking too much :)
A sustainable version of the iconic 1930s building would be ideal.
It was a nice old building which deserved a more appropriate tenant
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoghan_mac/5404564241/
(sorry, not sure how to paste in the pic.)
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