Owen Owen

mcsporran, that's a useful picture, I thought the building was about one floor up in 51, there you go, the fifties were confusing times as to the rate of re-building. Thanks.

Apologies if posted before.

A new one to me - similar to Cliff's on the 2nd page of this thread. Interesting as it shows the short-lived store in the context of Broadgate and the entrance on the left to Market Place....

It certainly isn`t very photogenic, if I was a Scotsman I`d say dour, monolithic?

I you mean the original store Roger then yes deco utilised many a slab-sided arrangement.

Roger, I know they let it burn? They were short of water, they had a pump drawing water from the Sherbourne at the bottom of the Burges, saved buildings like the Wine Lodge and Anslows, MHW etc, made sure Owens was clear of people and then left it.

The Owen Owen Trinity St shop to the left of the entrance to New Buildings in Midland Red's photo (70 in this topic) was where they had that fascinating cashier booth to which all the overhead cables carried screw top round containers, and at the pull of a lever, the notes and purchase docket sped at a fast rate, to be opened and change sent back by the cashier. To a child this was great fun to watch as they whirred past overhead. Edited by member, 26th Apr 2018 1:27 pm

Yes Prof, Philip showed the device in post 741 in the 'Shops of Yore' thread

Thanks for that Pixrobin

I thought that around the mid thirties a lot of Coventry centre had been built well over half a century ago, and most buildings had an amount of timber and timber decays and the top end of the Burges was about to collapse and so was Butcher Row - so the council was forced to rebuild them. But the council did not just replace them, the top part of the Burges and Ironmonger Row, Little Butcher Row - they allowed Owen Owen to take over. Why? Owen Owen built a store that was massive and solid for Coventry, higher than other buildings in the new Trinity Street, more like a castle, small windows for a new shop. Why? Then less than five years later, they rebuilt, different spot, different design, three times lighter than the previous shop. Why?

Different style because Coventry was being built in a contemporary style and everything had to fit in. New position was due to the Gibson plan.

Discussion on the general redevelopment continues in the "Post-war redevelopment" thread

As far as I know it was roughly where the tip of the arrow is in this picture (the red line the front of a nearby building which was later the site of the Royal Vaults), so it's where Cathedral Lanes is now, and too near Godiva. It would be nice if the Primark building was demolished and the Cross located somewhere upon the liberated ground, but not covering anything that was part of Little Butcher Row. I think the Owen/Primark building is worst thing ever built in terms of functionality of the city centre, it used to be like one continuous street, only divided by names: Broadgate-Cross Cheaping-Burges-Bishop Street. Then this big blockage was plonked down on it. People say The Burges is a dead zone, not surprising that the lesser part that is virtually blocked off, withers and virtually dies. But, the worse a building is, the more likely we are to be stuck with it - the council can demolish three Hippodromes but not one Primark. Edited by member, 20th Nov 2018 2:51 pm Post copied from topic Coventry Cross on 22nd Nov 2018 2:45 pm

Osmiroid. I agree with everything you say, the building spoilt everything that was Coventry, chopped the city in half - the Burges, Hales Street, Corporation Street, all cut off. It was the start of the square buildings that dominated the city through the fifties and sixties.