Friday 20 February 2015

Stasis


Well I came to see if was still here and indeed the former Alfred Percy's York Commercial and Temperance Hotel better known as the New York nightclub on Anlaby Road is indeed standing upright and showing all the signs of decay you might expect from a building that no-one wants but no-one can afford to knock down. Four years ago I posted about this and how it was due to make way for a brand new hotel and it's nearly a year since I posted that the Council were demanding it be made good or else. At the end of last month it was reported in the local rag that the Council "could be forced to intervene" after finding that the owners had been leading them a merry dance (who'd have thought it?) and might actually, you know, go ahead and demolish the place and send the owners the bill (well good luck with that!). The Council suffers from a lack of money and political will to take on the owners of places like this so a kind of septic stasis has set in.
This derelict building, which opened in 1880 and has been through two world wars with attendant air raids and numerous economic ups and downs, could still be here in a couple of years time to welcome visitors as they alight from Paragon Station for the delights of the year of the City of Culture. That or a pile of rubble and some homeless pigeons. 


The weekend in black and white is here.

9 comments:

  1. It looks like a heap. We've got one here that's not quite that far gone, but the situation between the owner and the city is much the same.

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  2. Those kinde of photo is made for b&w, great!

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  3. Interesting b&w photos!
    sad story!
    My post at: https://hanshb.wordpress.com/

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  4. Perfect for b/w.

    Visiting from BLACK AND WHITE WEEKEND.

    FRANKLY MY DEAR

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  5. We have an abandoned mall here. Like the building you captured, there's still no best solution.
    Great shots!

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  6. What a sad fate for the building, and a financial mess into the bargain.

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  7. Fantastic pictures. I wonder what the Temperance movement would have thought about the building later becoming a nightclub.

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  8. So sad. Looks like it was once a fine venue. Love the skyline and art deco letters.
    These are great shots of what it has become.

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