Mosques

I have recently completed a model of a mosque. This latest project will support fund raising to replace the existing building in York which is no longer large enough for its' purpose.

My earlier model of the new mosque being built in Oldham is now accompanied by a digital model created with Google Sketchup. Further details of both of these projects will be found on my website http://parabuild.blogspot.com

Engels in Manchester

Friedrich Engels lived in Manchester from December 1842 until 1844. He had been sent by his parents to work at the Ermen and Engels, Victoria Mill in Weaste. His father hoped that the experience would make him re-consider his radical views.

Whilst in Manchester, Engels visited some of the most deprived districts and wrote extensively of the working and living conditions that he observed.

"Such is the old town of Manchester...instead of being exaggerated, it is far from black enough to convey the impression of the filth, ruin and uninhabitableness, the defiance of all considerations of cleanliness, ventilation and health which characterize the construction of this single district, containing at twenty to thirty thousand inhabitants. And such a district exists in the heart of the second city of England, the first manufacturing city of the world. If anyone wished to see in how little space a human being can move, how little air - and such air! - he can breathe, how little of civilization he may share and yet live, it is only necessary to travel hither" (Friedrich Engels 1845, The Condition of the Working Class in England, p86)

Engels again visited Manchester in the summer of 1845 in the company of Karl Marx and was to return to live in the city between 1850 and 1870. He again worked for his father's firm earning £100 per annum and 10% of the profits. On his father's death, he inherited the sum of £10000 and 20% of the firm's profits.  Ironic that he benefited so much from the capitalism that he so opposed.

Marx visited Engels in Manchester on a number of occasions and received considerable financial support from his friend.

A Pea Souper

I was reminded today of the last of the London smogs which occurred in 1963. 

I lived in West London at the time and was travelling home with my Father who was driving.  On reaching Hangar Lane on the A40, he could no longer see the kerb. I walked in front of the car as he was just able to see my figure through the fog. We progressed in that way for about 3 miles until nearer home the visibility improved a little. Luckily we managed to complete the journey without mishap.

A Canal Side Office

This office building was originally designed for a canal side site in Worsley, Greater Manchester. The project was never constructed although I did build a 1 : 100 scale model pictured below. 

The same building has now been modelled in digital form using Google Sketchup. Be sure to view the animated walk through.

The Australian Bungalows.

Furness Vale in Derbyshire takes pride in it's three "Australian" bungalows.  These were built, according to which version you hear, either by a retired sea captain or by a returning emigree. Whichever story is true, it seems that the builder was nostalgic for the architectural styles of New South Wales or Victoria.  

 

Originally these homes all had Australian names.  The nearest in the photo above was called  "Tarramia" and was probably built in 1898. The farthest, built at the same time still retains it's name "Yarrawonga". "Boominoomina" in the middle wasn't built until 1904. 

The three properties were offered for sale at auction in 1911. The owner then lived at "Yarrawonga" and Boominoomina was rented, furnished for £1 per week; probably quite a high price at that time.

The middle bungalow had at first been occupied by Mr Knowles, owner of the local coal mine and brickyard. This was at the time that his new house further up the road was being built. The mine was at the rear of these homes. Although it was worked for a period of more than two centuries, it would never have been much in evidence. At it's peak only 30 men worked underground. All that existed on the surface was a small brick building which also housed the adit and alongside, a small wooden pithead over a shaft.

 

"Yarrawonga"

 

"Tarramia", later re-named "Garswood"

 

1927  - The cast of the Methodist Sunday School play gather in the garden.

These bungalows are next to the house "Glencroft"  -  Read the article about Edward Salomons from the menu above.

Prime Minister Assassinated

Perceval 1762 - 1812 was the only Prime Minister to have been assassinated. He was the son of an Irish earl and became First Lord of the Treasury on 4th October 1809 effectively Prime Minister although that title was not in use at the time.

On 11th May 1812 Perceval was entering the lobby of the House of Commons when a man came forward, drew a pistol and shot the politician. The assassin, John Bellingham was  a businessman with a grivance against the government and did not attempt to escape.  Perceval died a few minutes later and in the early hours of the morning his body was taken to 10 Downing Street. The inquest was held on the morning of 12th May at the curiously named Cat and Bagpipes public house which was at the corner of Downing Street; the verdict was murder.

The funeral was held on 16th May in Charlton. No time had been lost in bringing Bellingham to court. The trial was held on 15th. The accused refused to enter a plea of insanity and was found guilty. He was hanged just three days later.

Perceval was not a wealthy man and left only £106 to provide for his widow and twelve children. Parliament made a settlement of £50,000 to provide for the children and the widow was granted an annuity.

In 1983, Henry Bellingham, a descendant of the assassin was elected to Parliament for the North West Norfolk constituency a seat he held until the 1997 election when he lost by 1339 votes. The candidate for the referendum party received 2923 votes and was perhaps responsible for Bellinghams defeat. That candidate was Roger Percival who claimed to be descended from the Prime Minister.

The Cat and Bagpipes was one of many pubs that had existed in the vicinity of Downing Street.  This had been an area of narrow streets and alleys, a medieval district. Many of these hostelries had been established to cater for pilgrims visiting the shrine of Edward the Confessor.   These streets also hosted dressmakers workshops, livery stables and cheap lodging houses for MPs and private houses as well as the offices of state. There are stories of government clerks buying strawberries in baskets suspended by red tape, paying street singers with hot penny coins and signalling by mirror to the dressmakers opposite.  These were not sound buildings and were nopt expected to last for more than their twenty year leases. The ground was made boggy by an underground stream, buildings had collapsed and the Foreign Office was shored up with wooden posts.

Number 10 Downing Street was originally three houses; a mansion, a townhouse and a cottage. The townhouse at 10 was one of several built by Sir George Downing in the seventeenth century. Downing had been a spy for both Cromwell and CharlesII. Although designed by Wren, these buildings were put up cheaply on poor foundations. The brick and mortar facade was false, the courses havinng been painted on.

Downing Street was rebuilt and altered on many occassions. By 1958 an investigation revealed that 10, 11 and 12 had deteriorated to such a degree that only a limited number of people were allowed on the upper floors for fear of collapse. Renovations took over three years and cost three million pounds. Further renovations were required in the 60's and 80's.  The black appearance of the brickwork was due to centuried of pollution. The bricks when cleaned were buff coloured and were repainted in black to retain the oringinal appearance.

Furness Vale Station

It was never an uplifting experience waiting for a train at the village station. There was, however, a waiting room with a blazing coal fire, popping gas lamps and artistic travel posters to look at. Irene was there behind her little window, ready to sell you a return to Stockport or to report on how late the train would be. A porter might be sweeping the platform or tending the geraniums and fellow passengers sitting on the bench seats were all too ready for a gossip.

As with so many small stations, all this has been swept away and we are left with small glazed shelters which offer little respite from the weather and only a few small perches on which to rest.

In wiching to re-create the original station, I might have chosen to build a physical model. This would have been very time consuming and would have presented storage problems. Choosing a Google Sketchup model may be second best but it did allow me to  represent our local sation as it appeared in the early 1960's.

The images below are from the digital model and are followed by a link to an animated walk through.

 

 

 http://youtu.be/-hbF5t0zMow

Errwood Hall

The picturesque and remote Goyt Valley lies to the North West of Buxton and has for a long time been a popular destination for visitors.   It was here in 1840 that Errwood Hall was built for the wealthy Grimshaw family. In 1930, the last of the family to live there, Mrs Mary Gosseling, died.  The contents of the hall were sold and the property was bought by Stockport Corporation. For a short while, the house served as a youth hostel but in 1934 it was demolished.  Much of the land was to be flooded with the creation of Errwood reservoir and the house was considered unviable.

A few remains are still to be seen

A number of photographs of the hall are available and from these, in conjunction with large scale maps, I have created a reconstruction using Google Sketchup.

A short walk through of the model is available on you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xc_BeXwMU8&noredirect=1

Oldham Central Masjid

The Oldham Central Masjid needed to raise funds from the local community to finance construction of the new mosque. A model was required to demonstrate the design and location.  The model was constructed at 1:200 scale and included lighting inside and at the top of the minaret.

 

I build models from polystyrene sheet of varying thicknesses. Whilst this is a great medium for this purpose it can not be painted directly to represent brickwork. I overcome this by bonding paper to the surface of the plastic. This is then scribed to represent brick courses and given washes of water colour until the right tone is achieved. I often pick out a number of individual bricks in a varied shades to break the uniformity. This is more relevant when a brick such as a multi is specified.

 

Components are assembled using a plastic solvent. This gives a clean, strong join.

 

Because of it's design, the dome had to be fashioned by hand. A cylindrical block of solid plastic was carved, scraped and sanded to achieve the correct profile. The vertical sides with windows cut out were fashioned from sheet plastic cuved to shape. 

 

The smaller domes were fashioned in a similar way. The crescents were fashioned from small pieces of thin styrene.

 

The model is illuminated by a number of tiny low voltage bulbs. A few cars and people add a finishing touch

Construction of the Mosque is now well advanced and progress can be followed on the gallery section of their website : http://oldhamcentralmasjid.org.uk/index.htm

A new home

A Blackpool businessman proposed rebuilding his bungalow home which had been extended several times. The first stage was to be construction of the coach house style, semi detached building where he would live during construction of the main house. He comissioned the construction of a 1:100 scale model, mainly to convince his wife of his proposals.
To personalise the model, I hand built a model of his car showing the correct registration number.

 

 

High Street Bollington

The scheme to build houses at the top of High Street in Bollington met with local opposition as the proposal involved building on a pub car park and on open, tree covered land.  I was commissioned to build a model and the photographs below show some of the construction stages.

 

The "context" buildings are finished in white. windows and doors shown simply as recesses. 

The new buildings are to be fully detailed and finished in colour

 

Most of bollington is stone built and the models reflect this.

 

 

Some of the topography is formed from card, particularly the roadways.

 

The remainder of the terrain is formed from material such as expanded polystyrene and covered with smooth plaster. When complete, it is finished with simulated grass.

 

The completed model includes a number of large trees which are fashioned by hand. Foliage is a commercially available product.

 

A few other details such as cars and a phone box add a splash of colour and a sense of scale.

 

Narrowboats

 

These 1:76 scale narrowboats were built as a "labour of love".  The models are entirely handbuilt and the hulls are carved from solid plastic. These boats are highly detailed and perhaps the hardest job involved hand painting the lettering and "rose and castle" decoration.

 

The boats carry fictitious names but are finished in traditional working boat style.

 

Adobe Photoshop allowed me to "launch" a boat into our local canal, the Peak Forest. In the photo below "Gazelle" approaches Bang's footbridge in Furness Vale.