Old Fire Station

A voluntary fire brigade was started in Barrow in Furness in 1866 on the initiative of the churchwardens of St Georges Church and rather weirdly they were at first accountable to the Inspector of Lighting for the district. The initial complement was a superintendent, a sergeant and 10 firemen operating a manual engine (attached to horses when needed), the force gradually grew in size with the rapidly expanding town. 

This fine building was erected in 1911, a date which it proudly states above the door.  Opening for business the following year on the 12th December as that most modern of things a motorised fire service.  Their first machine had been proudly shown off  to the the public in the November with a demonstration of jets of water played in the air and up to the top of the Town Hall tower.  This terracotta and red brick building is now a Grade II listed building designated as such by English Heritage as the  "first generation of fire stations built specifically for motorised appliances".  The building is now occupied by the retailer  'Bed Brigade' which means you can buy a bed from here and sleep easy in it knowing that there is a fire brigade on hand to put out any fires  Since 1996 the main Fire Brigade have operated from a modern and bland building on the outskirts of town here.

The Old Fire Station (once known as Central Station) an entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet this week sojourning  at O here

             

ABC Wednesday - Fire Station

I was passing this building on the way to somewhere else in London but managed a snap, while thinking wow an 'Arts and Crafts' Fire Station, who would have thought it.  No need to guess when it was built there it is in bold lettering '1902', not only a fire station but also with flats.  At first I thought this building was no longer used as a fire station because the large doors are blocked by cars but I was wrong for behind them are not the fire engines but a reception area.  A historical listed building described as "red brick laid in English bond with Portland stone dressing in the Arts and Crafts domestic style", the architect was Percy Erskine Nobbs (1874-1964) who went on to design many building in Montreal, Canada in the same style.

The Fire Brigade in London was at one time funded by city businesses but following an Act of Parliament in 1866 the local authority was charged with saving lives and protecting buildings resulting in the first publicly funded Brigade for the city. The building boom of the 1890s to the 1900s resulted in giving the Brigade "bespoke designs and characterful buildings". Well this one certainly fits that description.

Here is an old photo of the full building I found on the London Fire Journal blog (written in the USA).  Are you wondering where the fire engines are kept?  I missed them off my photo and this old one does not show them either.  Here comes the Turnout...

An entry to ABC Wednesday Round 10, a journey from A to Z