The early 1970s were critical years in terms of the preservation of the built heritage of Halifax. Not only was the future of a dilapidated Piece Hall being determined (see Faded Jewel), but right next door to that jewel in the crown was a diamond in the tiara - Square Congregational Church. Most of the … Continue reading Fitting A Square Church Into A Rectangular Hole
Tag: Halifax
Faded Jewel
These days we are used to saying that the Piece Hall is the jewel in the crown of Halifax (or Calderdale, or Yorkshire, or England, or Europe: depending on the degree of our xenophobia), but it was not all that long ago that the building was facing an uncertain future. Those with long enough memories … Continue reading Faded Jewel
The Days Before Burdock
This old image has gone through quite a journey. It was far from perfect when it started life, 55 years or so ago: the focus was suspect and the composition could have been improved by some selective demolition work. At an early stage in its life it got converted from a negative into a positive … Continue reading The Days Before Burdock
Odeon Memories
I took this photograph - looking towards Waterhouse Street from Orange Street, Halifax - one dark, rainy night over half a century ago. In some ways, not a lot has changed over those five and a half decades - the bowling alley on the left is now a hotel, the roundabout is gone, and the … Continue reading Odeon Memories
Halifax As It Was
GAS WORKS & RAILWAY SIDINGS FROM NORTH BRIDGE, HALIFAX Looking back at this photograph I must have taken sometime around 1968, it has a staged feeling to it, as though it has been carefully posed as an album cover for a Champion Jack Dupree LP. It wasn't staged, however, nor were the colour tampered with. … Continue reading Halifax As It Was
A Different World
HALIFAX PIECE HALL (1960s) It was a different world, a different time. What is now seen as an architectural icon, was then simply a place of work. Where now you can find good books, rare objects, and visual and culinary delights; then you could find Maris Pipers, Cox's Pippens and Hawke's Champagne Rhubarb. Feet now … Continue reading A Different World
History In Pixels
MARKET STREET, HALIFAX (c1964) It's one of those photographs full of movement, full of buildings, full of memories, and full of history. From the various visual clues and by searching what is left of my memory, I can conclude that I must have taken this photograph in the mid 1960s, for the sake of argument, … Continue reading History In Pixels
Bowling Along Through Halifax
BRUNSWICK BOWLING, BROAD STREET, HALIFAX (c1966) The ability of old photographs to spark memories never ceases to amaze me. I tracked down this old colour slide yesterday after someone, quite rightly, pointed out that what was set on top of the bowling alley in Broad Street, Halifax in the 1960s, was not a bowl, as … Continue reading Bowling Along Through Halifax
Memories, Patterns And Frameworks
I have spent some time trying to fit the patterns and memories together in order to come up with a location for my photo from fifty-odd years ago; my best suggestion is that I must have been standing somewhere near to where the Eureka Museum now stands.
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