I like Victorian industrial buildings. Victorians loved to
make even the most functional structures look beautiful, and sometimes slightly
whimsical – decorated temples for the worship of industry or castles to
celebrate commerce.
Not far from Stockport’s fantastic viaduct is this rather
grand warehouse, formerly the London and North Western Railway Goods Warehouse
(and now, appropriately, a Safestore storage building).
Grade II listed, it was built in 1877 in an Italianate style
– a style shared by even grander buildings such as Osborne House, Queen
Victoria’s holiday home on the Isle of Wight.
Pleasingly, this sign (on the railway side of the warehouse)
is one reason the building is listed. The fancy architecture and prominent
display of the name did what they were designed to do - a good job of promoting
the London and North Western Railway.
