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Review Article of the Month - March / April 2013
Overview Articles of the Life of Rochford
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Mar/Apr Review: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Rochford
Because this ‘review’ is largely visual it takes up more space than usual and so we give two pages to it. As we move on scanning some of the buildings that make up the town, can we remind you that our objective is simply to give you a nudge so that, as you go about the area, you perhaps note the buildings in a fresh way.
We’ve looked at the bad and ugly and highlighted just some of those we think could fit into our ‘good’ category and so now we have buildings we’re not so sure about, not sure how to describe them that is!
Because this ‘review’ is largely visual it takes up more space than usual and so we give two pages to it. As we move on scanning some of the buildings that make up the town, can we remind you that our objective is simply to give you a nudge so that, as you go about the area, you perhaps note the buildings in a fresh way.
We’ve looked at the bad and ugly and highlighted just some of those we think could fit into our ‘good’ category and so now we have buildings we’re not so sure about, not sure how to describe them that is!
Whatever else you say about it, the W.I.Hall has got to be called ‘interesting, as has the sombre (Scots would say ‘dour’) grey building that lurks or crouches in South Street. Meanwhile if you can find a better word than ‘mundane’ to describe Tate’s building, then let us know!
The variety at the lower end of South Street defies ‘architecturally interesting’ and would be better described ‘historically interesting’ and maybe even some of them, ‘quaint’. While it is clean and formal the Hotel, in our opinion at least, doesn’t quite make it. Not bad, but....
Clean, crisp, interesting ,well presented and worth more than a minute to take in. These two, in South Street and North Street respectively, stand proud and true to their respective styles. Yes, definitely interesting!
We’ll sneak these two in before we finish. On the left, a blot on the landscape, an industrial area where it shouldn’t be. An accident of history we suspect, just waiting for a developer and a planner to get together and say, “So what can we do about this?” On the right is a not exactly beautiful medical centre but it has been well covered up by trees and foliage; nicely done.
So there we are, a light hearted review of just some of the buildings around us. Some of them need a good fairy godmother to wave a magic wand over them but many, when you do take the trouble to stop and gaze, are worth looking at. The historical styles are many and varied. We’ve made our own hopefully not rude comments about some of them and have possibly made uninformed comments about others, but it’s not our comments that matter; it’s what you think.
If any of our readers would like to e-mail us your comments or opinions about the buildings of Rochford (and we realise we have hardly touched Ashingdon, but it is a bit more limited) we’d be very interested in receiving them and if they are not too incendiary, we’ll add them on here.
Our conclusion from this little exercise? We like Rochford, it is full of interesting Architecture.
Before we finish, we are very much aware that we have missed out some other excellent examples of architecture in the town and, of course, we largely avoided making any comments about houses because, after all you live there! If you want us to add on other buildings that are your favourites, drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do.
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If any of our readers would like to e-
Our conclusion from this little exercise? We like Rochford, it is full of interesting Architecture.
Before we finish, we are very much aware that we have missed out some other excellent examples of architecture in the town and, of course, we largely avoided making any comments about houses because, after all you live there! If you want us to add on other buildings that are your favourites, drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do.
Top of Page
RETURN to first part of this article