Sad photos of Park Hill

[samscam 10]

The other week while on a return visit to Sheff, I ventured up to Park Hill and took some pictures of my old front door and the surrounding wilderness. It's all rather sad and boarded up at present due to the ongoing attempts to clear and renovate the place.

 

Click here for the pictures

[theimposter 10]

Great photos. I didnt know that the Scottish Queen had shut down. Are all the pubs on there in the same state?

[samscam 10]

Originally posted by theimposter

Great photos. I didnt know that the Scottish Queen had shut down. Are all the pubs on there in the same state?

 

As far as I know the Parkway Tavern is still not boarded up. I can't say if it is still open as we were only there having a nose for about half an hour. The other two have been closed for years.

 

I only ever went in the Scottish Queen once and was utterly terrified. Does anyone have any memories/stories about the pubs on the estate?

[PhilipB 10]

No stories samscam but know how you must be feeling.

 

Used to live on Duke Street and whenever I go back it's as though another piece of earlier life has been taken away.

 

Thanks for the pics, had relatives live on Long Henry Row, went out with a girl on Norwich Row.

[lauramottram 10]

hey samscam, thanks for the photos. depsite studying the 'street in the sky' at uni i have never seen them like that before. really interesting.

 

i know it was sunny on the day you took the pictures but even baring this in mind i can see how le corbousier thought that blocks of flats would be a good idea!

 

 

did it make you feel sad going back?

 

they look well kept, better close up than from afar - are they maintained because theres still a few residents?

 

e x

[samscam 10]

Hmmm... I had some very happy years there and it is indeed a bit on the sad side to go back and see the place in such a state. The essential services (rubbish collection etc) seem to be being maintained - though obviously there are less people there to clean up after now.

 

If they did it right it could gain the same kind of modernist chic as Trellick Tower in London or Park Hill's French cousin the Unité d'Habitation - which we plan to visit in September:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unité_d%27Habitation

 

Bring on the rooftop swimming pool I say!

[lauramottram 10]

hi

 

well i think you will be impressed with Unité d'Habitation, went whilst at uni.

 

as someone has discussed on another park hill thread, the way they get it right is a feeling of exclusivity rather than how park hill is viewed

 

(too young to know how it was viewed historically tho - was it ever considered a privilege to live there?)

 

enjoy marseille

 

e x

[janjan21 10]

Im a new user of sheffield forum and still finding my way round and dont seem to get help when i ask lol. But i thought id drop a line i am a dinner lady at Park Hill school and have been for 17 years incase anyone is intrested.thank you

[Strix 11]

Who are you asking Jan? We're a helpful bunch on here

 

I think that Park Hill should be renovated into an exclusive address. I studied a little of Le Corbusier too, and am amazed at how little appreciation there is amongst it's residents for the privileges of living there.

 

The flats are well laid out and roomy, there's more 'garden' than anybody could hope for in that price bracket elsewhere, and the views are stunning.

 

Chuck the scum out and lets put the country's biggest listed building on the map, with a big sign 'THIS IS SHEFFIELD'!!!

[Plain Talker 11]

when park hill was first built, yes, it was considered very prestigious.

 

 

It was a huge improvement for a lot of folks who moved on there, from no inside sanitation, to the swish hot water on tap, and district heating system, from the communal boilers, to the wonderful "garchey" waste disposal system.

 

the flats were light, modern and well designed. they really were very very nice indeed

 

the only problem was that the council didn't vet the people that were being housed on there, after a few years.

 

when they were new, the prospective tenants were vetted, even about their income, to ensure that they'd be "model" tenants.

 

this is not the case any more, sadly.

 

memories of the pubs on the flats...

 

My gran and granpa, who lived on Norwich Row, overlooking the pub, used to go drinking in the Parkway. My aunt and uncle lived directly above the parkway on Long Henry Row.

 

i remember sunday afternoons, going to grandma and grandpa's for sunday lunch. we'd go to the pub, and have a bottle of fizzy orange, or lemonade, and a bag of crisps or nuts and we'd sit in that funny corridor that you went into the back room through. my sister and i would get bored, so we'd climb over the low fence. into the Grace Owen nursery grounds (it wasn't very high) and we'd play in the sandpits etc that were there back then. (no, we did no damage, no harm. we just sat and played in the sandpits. the only thing we did would, sadly, have been counted as trespass)

 

PT

[The557 10]

samscam

 

Great `photos, a picture is worth etc. Thanks

 

I did not live in ParkHill but a mate did. Forgot the address but Terry Hill if anybody remembers him...back in the 60s, had a Trump 350 was it? the one with the fat back guard.

 

Wasn`t too keen on the place I`m afraid, (raises shield and waits for brickbats) as lights out in dodgy places too many times and I could never catch the herbivores who lobbed junk from above.

 

We went into the Queen if I remember rightly and started a ruckus about politics...ahhh..testosterone!

 

BTW What the H... are those things that look like king size second hand teapots?

 

D

[pete_fcs 11]

Originally posted by samscam

.....Does anyone have any memories/stories about the pubs on the estate?

 

i used to enjoy the scottish queen for a quiet pint, but didn't like the earl grey, owing to the amount of fights/ muggings which took place outside it.

 

i lived just above the earl grey (three floors up), and watched all the action when there was nothing on t.v.

 

here are my photo's of park hill:

 

http://photobucket.com/albums/b171/sheffieldarchives/park%20hill%20flats/