In 1975 when the telephone exchange was relocated from the top floor of the old post office (bottom left) to the new building (middle centre), automatic switching equipment took over from the ladies who used to put you through. Pictures from the last day at the manual exchange, the last to operate in England, can be viewed along with other memorabilia at the Strowger Appreciation Site.
The new building has changed with the times. As circuitry got smaller so the space on the upper storeys became redundant and has been given over to flats. It could well be the ugliest building in Abingdon, unless you know better.
I love that site. It is hard to believe what happened to Abingdon in the 60s. Looking at the photos, I wonder if the town was a bit jealous of all the new building happening in other places due to wartime bomb damage and decided to do a bit of destruction themselves!
Where is this? I can’t place it in my head.
I believe it to be the second ugliest building in Abingdon-on-Thames, only slightly behind the (new) cinema. Even the multistorey car park is comparatively beautiful. As for living there…it’s close to Places and public transport links.
i’ve always thought they were more non-describt than ugly.
for ugly those scummy flats at the start of ock street rank up there – although not quite as as much as before they were re-rendered a few years back.
Those driving change in the urban landscape since WWII are architects who think they can do better than those who went before (they can’t) and developers who can turn an handsome profit by putting up charmless ticky-tacky. On a grander scale you just have to think of the vandalism of Euston Station. I think the telephone exchange is the ugliest building in Abingdon. You don’t appreciate it in its full glory until you see it from the County Hall roof then it outstrips Bury Street by a mile as completely misconceived. I hope Backstreeter’s camera isn’t broken.
When the telephone exchange moved into it’s new building I remember it being celebrated as a movement towards modernity in the town, into technological age exemplified by the Culham and Harwell campuses etc. Maybe it’s pig ugliness accentuated that by it standing out. In hindsight tho’…
The forground of Backstreeter’s photo is lovely old roofscape, even the old exchange adds to the angles and planes, and despite it’s apparent makeover (?) the new one looks like a KGB headquarters, dominant and controlling. Technology and architects and cost saving, eh?
Driving along Stratton Way.
If going towards The Vineyard its on the right,
{trying to remember if it is very close to the underpass}.
looking at google maps/satellite it appears to be opposite side of the road to the Bus Stops/The Net building.
Good spot – it IS undoubtedly THE most hideous building.
I live there. Love it due to proximity to Places. It’s currently the second ugliest building in Abingdon on Thames, I don’t think anywhere is going to seriously compete against the Guildhall\cinema which makes the multi-storey look sympathetically designed.
Slightly off topic, but this reminds me that when I came to Abingdon just before this exchange opened, I was gobsmacked to find that they still had “Button A and Button B” phone boxes here – anyone remember them? and the phone in the first house we had was a “party line” shared with next door!
And while I am reminiscing, the A34 went slap bang through town (Stert Street) then – tank transporters going to Salisbury Plain, freight lorries going to Southampton and car transporters to the MG factory. now those WERE traffic jams!
Ah well, back to my knitting….
From the top of County Hall you can see why the developers of the new Bury Street chose to replace the flat roofs and take down the canopy and create a higgledy piggledy roofline.
I think the reason why the telephone exchange is ‘hidden’ when you go round Stratton Way is that it is on the inside of the bend and the inclination, when going round a bend, is (drivers will notice this the most) to look at the outside. If you’re catching the X3, etc. on Stratton Way the exchange is a truly drab sight, however, Backstreeter has captured the view which nails the building as the most abysmal in the town.
There must have been some kind of internal competition within the GPO to see which place could have the most god awful ugly telephone exchange building. BT gave the one in Newbury a complete clean up and refurbish in the 1990s so it was almost like it was brand spanking 1960s new…… it still topped the “town building we’d most like to demolish” poll that year in the local paper.
Hester: Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. As well as the A and B telephone boxes, what about the A34 road diversions when the fair was on ? At least the railway station was working and many of the natives cycled to work then – not just to MG and the Brewery but to Cowley works as well.
Lines of Teddy Boys with their cafe racers in the Market Square and the Jukebox coffee-shop going strong under the Guildhall. The skies full of Beverleys and Hastings …
Yes Nurse, it’s time for my pills.
The ‘new’ Old Gaol is hideous, especially viewed from across the river. However were they allowed to do this? I thought it was going to be ‘in keeping’ – could at least have built in same style and colour of the old building.
Located the offending building while coming back at 7am this morning (no traffic so i could safely drive past slowly)… the strange thing is that in the 18 years that i have resided in Abingdon, I have never noticed it until you pointed it out, not a pretty building, but well hidden, unless you take an elevated picture across the town. interesting history though. Jury out on this one
Hester and Spike S, I want to know more about the A34 coming through the town, I cannot work out how that worked… offline chat? or perhaps a new entry for the blog?
I don’t think the architect won too many prices thanks to this building.
Stefan
http://www.oldemaps.co.uk/map-abingdon.jpg
A34 was Lodge Hill, Vineyard, Market Square, Ock Street, Drayton Road.
I seem to remember fair diversions winding their way around the Albert Park ! No doubt the Council offices and Police will retain records of the contingency plans from that era.
Oops – sorry Stefan, that was for Balders
This building simply cannot compete with the telephone exchange in Speedwell Street in Oxford. That is a behemoth of brick and unwashed metal-framed windows, and resembles a disused power station. No doubt it was all part of the city’s attempts in the 70s to shed its elitist ambiance and prove that it could do urban alienation as well as any other midlands city. See http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2562195
I live there and I love it. Just look where it is in relation to the bus stops! As for the ugliest building in Abingdon I think it just edged out by The Guildhall