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The old Sheffield Peace Gardens and Town Hall 'Egg Box' Extension


Sheffield History

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Peace Gardens.jpg

post-513-1179920315.jpg

 

Sheffield's improving beyond belief and improving extremely quickly

It seems that Sheffield City Centre is evolving faster in these last few years and coming years than ever before in it's history.

Remember the old Town Hall 'Egg Box' extension and just how grim the Sheffield Peace Gardens used to be?

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Forgive me ,but as a life long Sheffielder ( I am told I am a member of the"silent generation") who, for a number of years, had an office overlooking our Peace gardens I really cannot agree with you about them being "Grim". True, in their latter, "unimproved" years they offered sanctuary for a few winos but, in the main were a peaceful oasis in a bustling, very vibrant City centre. They were designed to be "formal" ,as one would expect from their vintage, and their name recognised the peace after the years of war and destruction....especially of the horror of Hiroshima.... as well as of the World Peace Conference held in Sheffield in 1950 to which Pablo Picasso was an attendee. The "egg box" didn't last too long, so one wonders, just how long will the other additions to the "improving city"?

 

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On 08/05/2018 at 08:16, lysander said:

Forgive me ,but as a life long Sheffielder ( I am told I am a member of the"silent generation") who, for a number of years, had an office overlooking our Peace gardens I really cannot agree with you about them being "Grim". True, in their latter, "unimproved" years they offered sanctuary for a few winos but, in the main were a peaceful oasis in a bustling, very vibrant City centre. They were designed to be "formal" ,as one would expect from their vintage, and their name recognised the peace after the years of war and destruction....especially of the horror of Hiroshima.... as well as of the World Peace Conference held in Sheffield in 1950 to which Pablo Picasso was an attendee. The "egg box" didn't last too long, so one wonders, just how long will the other additions to the "improving city"?

 

Hi lysander, I agree with you that the Peace Gardens was a lovely oasis in the centre of town, with the colourful plants and a place to sit and rest for a while. While the new gardens are ok, they don't have that graceful character. The 'Egg Box' is mentioned in several places on here, comments about it would benefit by being put together. It seems a general opinion that the building was an 'eye sore', and as I wrote on one of the posts, It was not a nice place to work in either, my Sister-in -law ended up working there for a time, she said it was dark, miserable, depressing and badly set out, she was glad when she was able to leave. I have heard it mentioned by several Sheffielders that it looked like a 'Prison'

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Hi lysander, I agree with you that the Peace Gardens was a lovely oasis in the centre of town, with the colourful plants and a place to sit and rest for a while. While the new gardens are ok, they don't have that graceful character. The 'Egg Box' is mentioned in several places on here, comments about it would benefit by being put together. It seems a general opinion that the building was an 'eye sore', and as I wrote on one of the posts, It was not a nice place to work in either, my Sister-in -law ended up working there for a time, she said it was dark, miserable, depressing and badly set out, she was glad when she was able to leave. I have heard it mentioned by several Sheffielders that it looked like a 'Prison'

What I could never understand was why ever it was built as it did not 'fit' into any of the architecture of the area and certainly not with the town hall. It was just a designer's fancy and presumably they didn't have to work in there. A bit like Park Hill, of course a vast improvement on old back to backs etc, and now Grade II listed but was (is) there the same community spirit as before? The designers don't have to live in there.

A bit like the 'new' Gaumont with the 'scaffolding' and mirror glass. In answer to complaints that it didn't fit in, especially with the City Hall opposite, there was the response that the mirror effect reflected views of the City Hall to help it 'fit in. If that was the case then why not build something more in keeping with the surroundings? 

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I have always preferred the old Peace Gardens to what we have now, they were much bigger and the formal beds were a joy but now it's turned into a an outdoor eating area and playground for children, the older end of which I'm one like to sit and read, listen to the birds and talk of things that have gone. 

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Sheffield  Town Hall Eggbox2.jpg

Sheffield  Town Hall Eggbox5.jpg


I'm sorry people but I just can't agree that the Peace Gardens used to be better than what we have today. 

It was grim back in the day. 

Old wet benches, cracked paving slabs all over the place, and drab plain grass offered nothing better than what we have today surely?

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 I agree,the grass does look a bit "tired" in the photo....and the benches do look wet...but with the absence of leaves on the trees  it must have been a winter shot taken just after a rain shower....Has anyon, I wonder, got a photo taken in late spring/early summer when the trees were a mass of colour, the flower beds were full of colourful tulips and the scent from wallflowers was definitely "heady".

The "City on the Move", arguably, was a very vibrant place... then came de-industrialisation!.

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On 05/06/2020 at 16:45, Sheffield History said:

Sheffield  Town Hall Eggbox2.jpg

Sheffield  Town Hall Eggbox5.jpg


I'm sorry people but I just can't agree that the Peace Gardens used to be better than what we have today. 

It was grim back in the day. 

Old wet benches, cracked paving slabs all over the place, and drab plain grass offered nothing better than what we have today surely?


Your photo isn’t the old Peace Gardens,  its was re-vamped to suit the horrible town hall extension. This is the Peace Gardens I remember.

 

752DB8C5-326D-497E-AA1B-8F7A6B7A9F71.jpeg

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17 hours ago, lysandernovo said:

 I agree,the grass does look a bit "tired" in the photo....and the benches do look wet...but with the absence of leaves on the trees  it must have been a winter shot taken just after a rain shower....Has anyon, I wonder, got a photo taken in late spring/early summer when the trees were a mass of colour, the flower beds were full of colourful tulips and the scent from wallflowers was definitely "heady".

The "City on the Move", arguably, was a very vibrant place... then came de-industrialisation!.

I've scanned a couple of my early 1960's slides, the b&w is ''winter" whilst the Kodachrome is a 1963 similar view. It was certainly maintained in very good condition then, though these shots may not be the same year, I only ever took one 35mm film in b&w

2020-06-10_1.thumb.JPG.f0ba572fa8a5d1be7f808e235271b78d.JPG1892220701_2020-06-10_0(2).thumb.JPG.3494a54189165fc656034b00dbea2428.JPG.

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On 09/06/2020 at 18:42, tozzin said:


Your photo isn’t the old Peace Gardens,  its was re-vamped to suit the horrible town hall extension. This is the Peace Gardens I remember.

 

752DB8C5-326D-497E-AA1B-8F7A6B7A9F71.jpeg

They looked stunning with the formal flower beds. I'm glad that some formal planting still exists at Weston Park.

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We once had our own plant nursery ( indeed it developed one popular Pansy variety) and , as a result, had plantings in abundance in most of our parks. A new boss with different ideas and budget cuts did away with nursery, plantings et als🙄

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1 minute ago, lysandernovo said:

We once had our own plant nursery ( indeed it developed one popular Pansy variety) and , as a result, had plantings in abundance in most of our parks. A new boss with different ideas and budget cuts did away with nursery, plantings et als🙄

Would you say that the planting in Weston Park is fairly minimal these days? I imagine that there were more formal beds in the past...

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I have to confess I haven't been in Weston Park for very many years so couldn't comment...but my general opinion is that our parks have been "slimmed down" from their hey days in the 1950s.

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