I've put this in here as the haziness of the day didn't lend itself to "high stuff shots", so it's really more to do with the interesting stuff from the fabric of the building.
Monsieur Alphonse Reyrolle decided that Hebburn would make an excellent place to build his engineering empire - god knows why, but next door were such giants as Parsons, Armstrong-Vickers and others.
As most visitors to this site know from the "viewing room" plans, this building was designed and built in the late 50s, early 60s, opening in 1961. The main 8-storey building has a lower, 4-storey executive block on the front, with a sadly, now burnt-out reception area.
The company employed over 12,000 people in it's heyday, and typical of large companies at that time organised mass day trips to the seaside, sponsored sports teams, and invested in the local leisure facilities. Reyrolle's football team was the pre-cursor to the local Hebburn team. By the late 80s the number of employess had dropped below 1000. This tower was taken over by the DHSS in the 70s, when the decline had already started.
The building is riddled with asbestos, which has delayed it's demolition. All of the lead, copper and bronze alloys have been stripped, as have the metal ceiling tiles.
The ground floor is a secure archive area, with safe doors at both ends of the corridor. Then individual fire-proof rooms,
Each room had a light switch outside of the room, with a fantastic jewel-shaped indicator light
Each room's lighting was wired with "Pyro" cable - normally used for fire alarm cabling, and a heat sensor
Working up the building, next was access to the boiler room, although unless you've brought some waders (and possibly an NBC suit) it probably out of bounds now - I loved the yellow scum.
I wondered what the hell this was, until I realised that it's a 50s heating thermostat patch panel!
Out into the offices then - basically what follows is 8 floors of this (Executive offices aside) It's a bit like flying under the belly of Red Dwarf!
Broken only by the odd cleaner's cupboard (not for the HDR averse)
The executive bathroom is one of the oddities - complete with splash guards for executive shoes.
The executive stairwell is one quite nice tho' with or without HDR
Fast forward to the roof then, the Reyrolle "ghost sign" is just visible on the side of the tower
The air-intakes for the heating and ventilation were quite spectacular, with Tappanga for scale
Need to try and re-visit for some high shots, before the demolition starts.
There's a couple more pics on photobucket, Photobucket | The safer way to store your photos
Monsieur Alphonse Reyrolle decided that Hebburn would make an excellent place to build his engineering empire - god knows why, but next door were such giants as Parsons, Armstrong-Vickers and others.
As most visitors to this site know from the "viewing room" plans, this building was designed and built in the late 50s, early 60s, opening in 1961. The main 8-storey building has a lower, 4-storey executive block on the front, with a sadly, now burnt-out reception area.
The company employed over 12,000 people in it's heyday, and typical of large companies at that time organised mass day trips to the seaside, sponsored sports teams, and invested in the local leisure facilities. Reyrolle's football team was the pre-cursor to the local Hebburn team. By the late 80s the number of employess had dropped below 1000. This tower was taken over by the DHSS in the 70s, when the decline had already started.
The building is riddled with asbestos, which has delayed it's demolition. All of the lead, copper and bronze alloys have been stripped, as have the metal ceiling tiles.
The ground floor is a secure archive area, with safe doors at both ends of the corridor. Then individual fire-proof rooms,
Each room had a light switch outside of the room, with a fantastic jewel-shaped indicator light
Each room's lighting was wired with "Pyro" cable - normally used for fire alarm cabling, and a heat sensor
Working up the building, next was access to the boiler room, although unless you've brought some waders (and possibly an NBC suit) it probably out of bounds now - I loved the yellow scum.
I wondered what the hell this was, until I realised that it's a 50s heating thermostat patch panel!
Out into the offices then - basically what follows is 8 floors of this (Executive offices aside) It's a bit like flying under the belly of Red Dwarf!
Broken only by the odd cleaner's cupboard (not for the HDR averse)
The executive bathroom is one of the oddities - complete with splash guards for executive shoes.
The executive stairwell is one quite nice tho' with or without HDR
Fast forward to the roof then, the Reyrolle "ghost sign" is just visible on the side of the tower
The air-intakes for the heating and ventilation were quite spectacular, with Tappanga for scale
Need to try and re-visit for some high shots, before the demolition starts.
There's a couple more pics on photobucket, Photobucket | The safer way to store your photos
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