Monday, October 13, 2008

Dragon Mart, Plymouth


Dragon Mart, PlymouthI wish I knew more about this building. I snapped in on a rainy afternoon in 2001 in Plymouth in the south west of England.

The signage reads Dragon Mart and the vertical piers and the edge of the verandah have been painted red to fit in with the east asian usage of the building.

It is quite a substantial building and in a way reminds me of the Hoover Building in London, albeit stripped of most decoration.

Everything about this buildings fits the rule of three.

Three protruding, rounded sections, each with a flagpole. Three vertical piers, painted red. Three horizontal bands of windows.

I just need three people to fill me in on it's history.


Update

I've since found out a bit more about this building through the Ask A Librarian online service and www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/garage_bartons.htm.

The building was originally Barton's Garage and then at some stage became Dragon Mart and then after that Mothercare.

It now appears that it has been demolished to make way for a fairly standard shopping centre.


Correction - January 2011
I am very happy to report that I was wrong. This building, Barton House in Colin Campbell Court has not been demolished and will feature in an interesting arts project from March 31 - April 9.

BBC Devon - Plymouth's Drive In Deco unveiled
at

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 9, 2009 at 10:51 AM

    This is Barton house in Plymouth. It holds a fascination for me as it is one of the few 20th century buildings that survived the WW2 blitz and later re-design of Plymouth. It has not been demolished as of June 2009 and is now housing a discount shop, however it does look in pretty poor shape. I will take some pictures of this lovely but sad old building the next time I head off into Plymouth to do a bit of shopping.

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  2. David ThompsonJune 9, 2009 at 11:03 AM

    Thanks for the update. Good to know it is still around.

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  3. CherylSeptember 18, 2009 at 6:38 AM

    Apologies for the poor quality of these pics. I did mean to grab a couple more photographs While shopping in Plymouth a few days ago but I forgot my camera...

    http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll152/ladyj1974/ad1.jpg

    and

    http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll152/ladyj1974/ad2.jpg

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  4. David ThompsonSeptember 18, 2009 at 9:57 AM

    Thanks for the updated pics Cheryl. Looks like it is still raining !!!

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  5. AnonymousNovember 8, 2009 at 10:20 AM

    went there today all ok,being used by a trader named 'Gordon Bennett' most of the building looks empty.Any old photo's of the building pre war?
    Steve Harvey

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  6. David ThompsonNovember 8, 2009 at 3:52 PM

    Thanks for the update Steve. I haven't seen any pre-war photos but Webrarian has a aerial photo of Plymouth city centre from 1948 on flickr.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/webrarian/553200999/

    ReplyDelete