TfL destroy Paolozzi mosaics at Tottenham Court Road tube station

[Orang Utan]

Affordable. Ha.

 

[Orang Utan]

And all those 'public' spaces on private ground.

 

[boohoo]

Fair enough on the mosaics, they are a loss. But whining when disused warehouses and derelict land are regenerated into academic, office and residential spaces is pretty ridiculous. Would you have complained that London was getting too sanitised when Bazalgette built his sewers?

A lot of Victorian developments such as the railways and road building had a habit of sweeping away the housing of the poor and their work environments. If we reflect on what was done back then to upgrade the city we would be unhappy about the way it was carried out.

I've not had a good look at Kings Cross but a lot of London spaces are being removed from being public and accessible to being private.

 

[5t3IIa]

One good/interesting thing about the Kings X redevelopment is a new postcode - NC1. Ask marty21, he knows.

 

[marty21]

A lot of Victorian developments such as the railways and road building had a habit of sweeping away the housing of the poor and their work environments. If we reflect on what was done back then to upgrade the city we would be unhappy about the way it was carried out.

I've not had a good look at Kings Cross but a lot of London spaces are being removed from being public and accessible to being private.

I work in the new post code N1C 5t3IIa a few days a week, Granary Square is very popular in the summer and a new smaller square, Pancras Square is now getting opened up, very corporate, a few chain winebars are shortly opening in the ground floor of the new office blocks , there is seating, lawn and a water feature . I remember the area from the early 90s when a lot of people avoided kings x because of drugs,prostitution (although tbf this was also an attraction to some people) The area feels a bit foreign tbh,a bit too clean and corporate.

 

[pogofish]

gone but not forgotten

I remember that place going on fire a few years back - It was either closed shortly after or maybe even the end of it? TCR redevelopment was on the cards at the time.

 

[Pickman's model]

I remember that place going on fire a few years back - It was either closed shortly after or maybe even the end of it? TCR redevelopment was on the cards at the time.

there have been a suspicious number of fires in such buildings...

 

[Pickman's model]

Yes, I would. The King's Cross of now is more of a wasteland than when it was full of ace clubs. They served London well and were of far more value than what's there now, the art college notwithstanding.

it was also nice when there was that big field on the w side of york way from where you could see the post office tower: so, yeh, i do remember when it was all fields round there

 

[dlx1]

Outside too kill history
Mikes blog

http://www.urban75.org/blog/say-goodbye-to-the-old-tottenham-court-road-tube-station-in-london/

 

[el-ahrairah]

personally i thought those paolozzi murals were amongst the most over-rated pieces of art in london - a city stuffed full of over-rated pieces of art. still i imagine that theyd have saved it if they could, simply in order to flog it off.

 

[dweller]

When you enter Granary Square there is a big sign saying you are now entering private property. Although you'll have cafes art school shops, waitrose etc it'll under watchful eye of private security guards - people deemed undesirable to those with commercial investment in the project will be moved along. Sanitised conditional public space is not public space.

 

[editor]

gone but not forgotten

Used to love that place.

 

[Winot]

When you enter Granary Square there is a big sign saying you are now entering private property. Although you'll have cafes art school shops, waitrose etc it'll under watchful eye of private security guards - people deemed undesirable to those with commercial investment in the project will be moved along. Sanitised conditional public space is not public space.

Was it public before?

 

[Winot]

personally i thought those paolozzi murals were amongst the most over-rated pieces of art in london - a city stuffed full of over-rated pieces of art. still i imagine that theyd have saved it if they could, simply in order to flog it off.

I don't like them either, but art shouldn't be trashed just on the basis of my taste.

 

[Ted Striker]

Yes, I would. The King's Cross of now is more of a wasteland than when it was full of ace clubs. They served London well and were of far more value than what's there now, the art college notwithstanding.

They were shit clubs . The Cross was for posey funky house dickheads or people that just didn't like to dance. Bagleys was a great space though dodgy promoters. Egg had bouncers that I've would like beating the shit out of people like a teenager loves pirate, and the Key was...well actually really quite wonderful.

I mean, a club being present is better than a club not being present, but sod the rose tinted view that anyone that went to a do in Kings X superclub didn't wish the promoter would have picked another venue.

 

[5t3IIa]

personally i thought those paolozzi murals were amongst the most over-rated pieces of art in london - a city stuffed full of over-rated pieces of art. still i imagine that theyd have saved it if they could, simply in order to flog it off.

I broadly agree that there weren't to my taste ( like Winot) but as far as I recall they were the only tube station decoration in the city and it seems so blunt to just bin them. Literally, haven't they been ripped out and folded into a skip, thousands of little tiles pinging out and tinkling onto the tarmac. A brutal, dumb sledgehammer on a tiny bastion of creativity in the dead centre of London.

 

[wiskey]

This seems remarkably short sighted given how hard the TCS have to fight to save stuff and how much everyone lies

We were given assurances when the station upgrade plans were first mooted that the mosaics would be safe, and because of this we held off putting them in for listing. With hindsight we feel these mosaics would have been better protected through the listing process. We would have then been more involved in the decision making process from the beginning, and the outcome may have different.”

 

[Orang Utan]

They were shit clubs . The Cross was for posey funky house dickheads or people that just didn't like to dance. Bagleys was a great space though dodgy promoters. Egg had bouncers that I've would like beating the shit out of people like a teenager loves pirate, and the Key was...well actually really quite wonderful.

I mean, a club being present is better than a club not being present, but sod the rose tinted view that anyone that went to a do in Kings X superclub didn't wish the promoter would have picked another venue.

There were some great squats too. I loved Bagley's and The Key. Never went to The Cross. Egg was indeed shit, apart from the roof terrace

 

[Orang Utan]

Egg had bouncers that I've would like beating the shit out of people like a teenager loves pirate

I've read this several times now, but I still don't understand it. What?

 

[5t3IIa]

This seems remarkably short sighted given how hard the TCS have to fight to save stuff and how much everyone lies

It does seem weird it wasn't listed in some way, but I don't suppose it would be acceptable to list it as anyone with any cunning foresight would know it would be fucked about with at some point Like Piccadilly Circus - list the tunnels but knock down the entrance buildings anyway.

 

[Ted Striker]

I've read this several times now, but I still don't understand it. What?

I was equating the security's penchant for getting cosh's and other assorted tools for dispensing of nighttime ne'er do wells, to a youth's wistful longing to everyone's favourite research chem, mCat.

Though I stuffed up with a random 'I've' in there etc

 

[el-ahrairah]

I don't like them either, but art shouldn't be trashed just on the basis of my taste.

someone's gotta decide, might as well be you or me.


but what i was actually saying was that companies almost never throw hundred-thousand pound artworks in the bin. the shareholders would go mental. this is capitalism, money is everything. i suspect that it really isn't possible to save this mural without spending more money that it would get at auction. it's a shame, of course, because people obviously get some pleasure from it. but i thought it was ugly and wanky so i won't be too bothered.

 

[Orang Utan]

I think it was just impossible to remove to sell. All those little tiles.

 

[Crispy]

I'm with el-a on this one. Ugly in the first place, and they made the escalators feel very cramped.
The mosaics on the platforms are being retained btw.

TCR station will be so much much nicer to use when it's all finished. When it comes to tube stations, I'd rather have cleanliness, space, light and accessibility with a sterile look than dirty cramped darkness with art on the walls.

 

[Pickman's model]

I'm with el-a on this one. Ugly in the first place, and they made the escalators feel very cramped.
The mosaics on the platforms are being retained btw.

TCR station will be so much much nicer to use when it's all finished. When it comes to tube stations, I'd rather have cleanliness, space, light and accessibility with a sterile look than dirty cramped darkness with art on the walls.

do you like your workplaces to look sterile?

 

[Orang Utan]

I'm with el-a on this one. Ugly in the first place, and they made the escalators feel very cramped.
The mosaics on the platforms are being retained btw.

TCR station will be so much much nicer to use when it's all finished. When it comes to tube stations, I'd rather have cleanliness, space, light and accessibility with a sterile look than dirty cramped darkness with art on the walls.

Can't say it felt cramped or dark to me. I loved how the colour brightened it all up.

 

[Orang Utan]

do you like your workplaces to look sterile?

Didn't you know that Crispy is a surgeon?

 

[boohoo]

This seems remarkably short sighted given how hard the TCS have to fight to save stuff and how much everyone lies

TCS is a very small organisation - 1 full time and two part time - it's easy to be overloaded with so many things to fight for at the moment.

 

[boohoo]

I do think it's good to have lots of art in our spaces - inside and out, in different forms to promote some discussion - whether it is that the piece is clever, ugly, overrated, funny, beautiful - whatever! We have ads around us which are created by designers/artists but they rarely get us talking about form, shape, colour possibly because we aware that by talking about the ad, we talk and promote the product.

I'd rather see art all around then locked behind doors.

 

[pogofish]

Looks like some of the Mosaics are headed to Edinburgh now - Gifted to Edinburgh Uni by TFL:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-33689699