I'm no expert on architecture Daniel. Erskine lived in Sweden most of his life and maybe that influenced his design. I think the 'wall' is his most well-known British work and is certainly unique in its scale and appearance. I'm sure there will be others on here who can offer more informed comment.
I think you know Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen‘s photos of Byker and her subsequent’Revisited’ series, Harry. Your words have reminded me to look at them again.
I do and looking at these again she captures the area and the people so well. Not sure if you were familiar with the Byker Wall. It's still a striking building.
So many good things here... Agree with Daniel about the brutalism - really is "between the idea and the reality is but one step." And loved "Embassy Tom"; and the flâneur of the (open-plan?) office...
A fascinating piece and can fully understand your enthusiasm for such an archive. My only knowledge of "Byker Grove", prior to this, had been the TV series so this was such an interesting insight.
Thanks Deborah - despite my northeast roots (maybe because of them 😉) I didn't watch the TV series - and I was a little old for a teen drama by then. Ironically the series wasn't filmed in Byker in the east of the city (although they did use some background shots of the place) but in Benwell that's in the west. It might well be that even by the 1990s, the TV production company felt Byker was still too much of an 'interesting' place to be.
That building looks almost Brutalist. I've studied architectural styles, EXCEPT, apparently, that particular school.
I'm no expert on architecture Daniel. Erskine lived in Sweden most of his life and maybe that influenced his design. I think the 'wall' is his most well-known British work and is certainly unique in its scale and appearance. I'm sure there will be others on here who can offer more informed comment.
Neither am I. I just hung about with my dad enough to hoover up enough knowledge to make it seem like I knew what the Hades I was talking about.
I think you know Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen‘s photos of Byker and her subsequent’Revisited’ series, Harry. Your words have reminded me to look at them again.
https://www.amber-online.com/collection/byker/
I do and looking at these again she captures the area and the people so well. Not sure if you were familiar with the Byker Wall. It's still a striking building.
I wasn’t familiar with it until I read your post. It does look striking.
So many good things here... Agree with Daniel about the brutalism - really is "between the idea and the reality is but one step." And loved "Embassy Tom"; and the flâneur of the (open-plan?) office...
Thanks 👍
The archive sounds fascinating and, as ever, I also enjoyed your meanders, Harry. Your Substack is a treasure trove of information !
Thank you Maureen 😊
A fascinating piece and can fully understand your enthusiasm for such an archive. My only knowledge of "Byker Grove", prior to this, had been the TV series so this was such an interesting insight.
Thanks Deborah - despite my northeast roots (maybe because of them 😉) I didn't watch the TV series - and I was a little old for a teen drama by then. Ironically the series wasn't filmed in Byker in the east of the city (although they did use some background shots of the place) but in Benwell that's in the west. It might well be that even by the 1990s, the TV production company felt Byker was still too much of an 'interesting' place to be.