Concrete cop shop set for listed status
STROUD's ugly police station is in line for coveted Grade II listed building status.
Although it's long been seen as a concrete carbuncle on the face of the town, opinion seems to be turning towards its angular 1970s charms.
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Tim Mars, vice-chairman of Stroud Civic Society, in front of Stroud Police Station which he says should get listed building status.
An application to spot-list the station and neighbouring magistrates' court complex is due to be filed today.
If it is granted, it would save it for future generations to appreciate.
And for traditionalists who have for many years struggled to admire the slab-sided pimple on the town's skyline, an interpretation centre – incorporating a coffee shop – could be built in the court's waiting room.
The move for listed status is the brainchild of Tim Mars, vice-chairman of Stroud Civic Society.
"It's about time Stroud police station got the recognition it deserves.
"Its etiolated horizontality offers an elegant geometric counterpoint to the heterorthogonality of the topography.
"Stroud has an enviable portfolio of post-war buildings which too often don't get the attention rightly afforded to its 19th Century heritage."
He revealed that the police station is the first of several concrete buildings the society wants to see listed because of their new found "retro" appeal.
"Stroud Civic Society is today making an emergency application to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to spot-list Tricorn House at Cainscross to prevent demolition or alteration of this iconic building," said Mr Mars.
"The Merrywalks multi-storey car park, perhaps the best New Brutalist building in the South West, should have been listed years ago.
"While the next-door cinema/shopping/bowling complex is too recent to qualify for listing, this daring and witty homage to 1920s Russian Constructivist architecture still has the power to shock and amaze.
"Like Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbau or Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlin, this building has at a stroke put Stroud on the map.
"No longer is Stroud seen as a fuddy-duddy arty-crafty backwater but as a cutting-edge happening place on the cusp of now."
3 Comments
by A.Hale., Stroud.
Thursday, November 12 2009, 9:17AM
“You really can't be serious, I live over the valley and see that carbuncle on the hill each morning. It's an absolute eye sore”
by diglis, Stonehouse
Wednesday, April 01 2009, 7:22PM
“Had me going for a minute, almost forgot the date.”
by R U Serious, Stroud
Wednesday, April 01 2009, 11:40AM
“What a fantastic idea, finally this building gets the credit it deserves. How about going further and identifying other potential candidates such as the old Woolworths building, the Travis Perkins (formerly Butts) building or even Tricorn House”