Views from up high

Croydon town centre may not meet everyone's beauty standards, but it's certainly not boring. 

Today I've been reading the book Croydon from Above: 1870 to 1999, published by Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society just before the turn of the millennium. Most of the photos in the book were taken from planes but some were taken from tall buildings, notably the Town Hall clocktower, Croydon Minster tower and Park Hill water tower. It's fascinating seeing how much of Croydon town centre as we know it came together in just a few years in the 1960s. The photos of the Flyover being constructed were particularly striking to me. New Steel Construction has an article with a photo of the construction from 1967.

The book reminded me of my own attempts to photograph Croydon town centre from above. It's no secret to those who know me personally that I am scared of heights. My fear is worst when on man-made structures, like high bridges and tall office and apartment blocks. Despite this fear, I like photographs of the views from these places.

The photo at the top and the one below are from some photos I took from the 35th floor of the Pinnacle Tower (purple triangular shaped apartment block on Wellesley Road) in November 2017. The photo below shows Lunar House in the foreground, with a range of buildings behind built between the 1960s and 2010s. This view would also include the two towers of 101 George Street (38 and 44 storeys), which were built using prefabricated units (I'll write about this in a future blog) and the 21 storey Addiscombe Grove development. 

Multistorey car park roofs are usually quite accessible locations for photography.

Croydon Minster & Reeves Corner from Centrale, March 2013

On 29th February 2020 I joined a group "art walk" around Croydon town centre. Little did I know, it was one of the last events I'd go to in 2020. One of the stops was the top of the Surrey Street car park. I learned today that this car park was only built in the 1990s - I suppose it's marginally less ugly than the other multistoreys. The photo below looks approximately north west. To the left are the former industrial remnants of Purley Way, while the new building just left of centre is Cairo Apartments by Reeves Corner Tram Stop. To the right, you can just see the back of Centrale and its car park, with the unfortunate Citiscape building in front, covered in scaffolding due to its dangerous cladding and structural problems. In the foreground is Church Street. 

Looking west, Feb 2020

The below photo was taken from the roof of Centrale shopping centre in November 2019 and looks back towards the Surrey Street car park (lit up at the back right). The stairwells are lit up in the empty St George's House, home of Nestle UK until September 2012, which is (very slowly) being redeveloped as housing. The lit-up face of the Croydon Clocktower is visible in the centre, with the four cranes from the development on the site of Taberner House to its left.

Looking south from Centrale, Nov 2019

Looking approximately east from the same roof, the Pinnacle Tower, well, towers over Lunar House, the Whitgift Centre office blocks (long empty) and Apollo House. Lunar and Apollo House are used by the Home Office. The lights in the foreground are from North End and the Whitgift Centre.

Looking east from Centrale, Nov 2019

Things change rapidly in Croydon, as I've mentioned before. The below photo is from August 2018 but the view now would be very differently, as four blocks of apartments are being constructed on the empty space. This used to be the site of Taberner House, Croydon Council's office, before they built Bernard Wetherill House (green glass building to the left). Some of the low rise office blocks on Katharine Street have also been demolished, along with the High Street half of St George's Walk, but I'll write more about this in a future post.

Looking north (ish), August 2018

Lastly, the two photos below of East Croydon were taken three days apart in 2018. The first was taken on Friday 7th September, the second on Monday 10th September. Over that weekend, the huge artwork called The Thinker Child, by RUN was painted on the derelict Royal Mail building behind the station. The empty site on the left of the first photo is now being developed, which has necessitated the closure of some of the pavement on Cherry Orchard Road, causing some disruption.