Posted in Art Deco, Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938, Exhibitions at 14:00 on 16 May 2013
This is a postcard of the Tower of Empire at the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938, otherwise known as Tait’s Tower, after the architect. It gives some idea of what a fine sight the Tower must have been when lit up at night.
It’s not a true colour photo but rather a colourised one.
Stunning whatever.
Posted in Architecture, Art Deco, Trips at 13:00 on 21 November 2011
On the way out of Silver End we passed another Art Deco house so of course I had to stop to photograph it.
This is Wolverton, also on Boar’s Tye Road.
It’s nice that the plants outside the door reflect the house’s symmetry – even if the climber doesn’t.
The balcony, with its W motif, is a nice touch and the gatepost (see below) is exquisite.
The housing estate I mentioned in my last Art Deco post was built by Francis Henry Critall for the workers at his window factory in the village.
This more stylish house was for one of the factory managers to live in. I presume the other biggish Deco house in Boar’s Tye Road (see my last Art Deco post,) though not quite as elaborate as Wolverton, was also for a manager.
Posted in Architecture, Art Deco, Kirkcaldy, Trips at 13:00 on 19 November 2011
The day after Braintree we took in the nearby village of Silver End. This was the first time we’d been there as for all the years we lived in Essex we didn’t have a car.
We were looking for the housing estate designed by the architect Thomas S Tait who I see from the link submitted an unsuccessful plan for Kirkcaldy Town Hall. Among other accomplishments he was the architect of St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh which I have featured here and here.
We knew we were on the right track when we came upon this in Boar’s Tye Road:-
It’s needing a bit of TLC I would say.
The next junction takes you into Silver Street. Every building is one of Tait’s.
This was taken from the other end of the street after we had parked.
This is the junction of Silver Street and Broadway which also contains many Tait houses.
There must have been around two hundred flat roofed houses in the deco style over the two streets.
A few had some extra deco flourishes like the triangular columns with windows in this photo where you can also see the connecting walls between them which house the gates to the rear gardens.
