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lccmunicipal.bsky.social
London County Council, Greater London Council, pre- and post-1965 boroughs in London (+ occasional forays outside of the capital). Municipal stuff from the past that lives on today. Oh, and new towns, shopping centres, infrastructure etc. lccmunicipal.com
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It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the GEC Z9555, known as the “brick”. It directed the light downwards, so was particularly popular near airports (the British Airports Authority invested heavily in them back in the day). The Kingston By-Pass was once home to many...

submitted 7 hours ago • 0 comments

Municipal guide of the day: the former Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell. This one dates from the late 1920s and features Edward Power’s old vestry hall which was subsequently engulfed and swallowed up the successor Town Hall in the 1930s (which was designed by E.C. Culpin and Bowers) .

submitted 23 hours ago • 2 comments

Municipal guide of the day: an early 1980s London Borough of Bromley effort, including the former Beckenham Town Hall, since demolished to make way for an M&S food hall!

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the GEC Z9554, shown here in both the shallow and deeper bowl versions. Popular throughout the UK in the 1960s, 70s and 80s and was to be found in many London Boroughs.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Municipal guide of the day: the London Borough of Bexley. This one dates from early on the new Borough’s life and features Erith Town Hall, which was adopted as the new Borough’s municipal offices in 1965 until a civic centre was opened a number of years later.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Municipal guide of the day: the former Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green. This one dates from around 1930 and features the then brand new York Hall on Old Ford Road.

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the GEC Z8524 from the early 80s. In London these became popular with LBs Merton and Lambeth. Outside London, West Sussex County Council went for them big time... Replaced a few years ago were the examples in the 2nd pic at Waterloo

submitted 14 days ago • 2 comments

Dec 1956 Design magazine & not one but four street lighting adverts! Concrete & steel - & showing the contemporary design debate around street furniture. #design @showmeasign.online @lccmunicipal.bsky.social @designarchives.bsky.social @c20society.bsky.social ↘️ flic.kr/s/aHBqjC2mTk

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Municipal guide of the day: the former Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey. This one was clearly printed just before WW2 and, with a later note stuck on the cover, reminds readers that details might be subject to wartime revisions.

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the GEC Z9494, once a feature of nearly every LB Barnet residential side street. Top marks if you can spot one in the wild now though...

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Municipal guide of the day: the former Surrey Municipal Borough of Beddington & Wallington. This one features the elegant town hall which has had multiple lives since the Borough was abolished in 1965: registrars office, law courts and a home for Sutton College.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

One for fellow roads & street lighting nerds. From the GEC 1951 catalogue "Main Road lighting" showing a variety of installations using them common mercury lanterns across the UK. Period streetscenes @showmeasign.online @lccmunicipal.bsky.social @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk flic.kr/p/2nFt2LU

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Municipal guide of the day: the London Borough of Barnet. This one looks like it is from the late 1970s and features the Town Hall at Hendon and the since-redeveloped (but then new) Copthall Leisure Centre.

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

A rather decorative London County Council scripture certificate, with a bit of an illuminated manuscript vibe.

submitted 27 days ago • 2 comments

Municipal guide of the day: the former Metropolitan Borough of Battersea. This one dates from the late 1930s and features the old municipal baths on Nine Elms Lane, which were demolished in the early 1970s.

submitted 27 days ago • 2 comments

Municipal guide of the day: a 1957 example from the municipal Borough of Barnes. The former Urban District Council gained Borough status in 1932. The guide was clearly keen to show the apparent bucolic delights of this small former Surrey Borough. The area is now in the London Borough of Richmond.

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the GEC Z9454c, a variant of last week’s example. Always rare, they could be found near railway lines: the light was directed downwards so didn’t compete with signals. Some survived in Merton as late as 2014 (last pic).

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

Almost out of #FingerpostFriday but : Barry Island in 1973 with a temporary (I hope) direction sign & fingerpost. And some classy sodium streetlamps as well. @showmeasign.online @lccmunicipal.bsky.social flic.kr/p/2qHepst

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

Municipal guide of the day (Season 2), back to B and this mid-1970s example from the London Borough of Barking, in its pre “& Dagenham” days. It features the new central Library, which opened in 1974.

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

A Great Falling Out in Shrewsbury Town : two street lamps stand back to back. Left, for once, a decent 'heritage' & on the right, on private land, a traditional conversion from gas lamp column to swan neck electric with a dinky mercury lantern. @showmeasign.online @lccmunicipal.bsky.social

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

A London County Council school certificate awarded after WW1, “the award of prizes having been suspended by the Council during the Great War”. It covers the period 1915-16 and is for “good conduct and meritorious work”.

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

We’re doing this tomorrow! Zoom along for some Brutalism from the comfort of your sofa

submitted 31 days ago • 5 comments

Some municipal pride from c.1950 with Leicester City Transport's brochure on its history & services complete with maps & illustrations by C. Herbert. #transport #Leicester #graphicdesign @lccmunicipal.bsky.social ↘️ flic.kr/p/2qHvuxW

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

Woah @municipaldreams.bsky.social

submitted 34 days ago • 4 comments

Now, about the LCC's coat of arms... @lccmunicipal.bsky.social

submitted 34 days ago • 2 comments

The Mayor has approved a petition to transfer the Greater #London Council’s Coat of Arms to the GLA. The £5,035 fee will be paid from the London Assembly’s 2024-25 budget, reinforcing the GLA’s identity and its ties to London’s history. www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/g...

submitted 34 days ago • 3 comments

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the GEC Z9454, a newer relative of last week’s example. Dating from the early 60s it featured on roads throughout London, but surely the greatest concentration was in Croydon where it was the standard from the 60s to the early 2010s

submitted 35 days ago • 1 comment

Municipal guide of the day: the former Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich. This one features some of the Borough’s large scale housing initiatives - presumably built by the Borough’s sizeable direct labour force. I have reached the alphabetical end of my collection!

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

Aye, what's it called? Cumbernauld... Road sign at the boundary of Cumbernauld, north-east of Glasgow, a Scottish New Town designated in 1955. @c20society.bsky.social @showmeasign.online @lccmunicipal.bsky.social @municipaldreams.bsky.social [Still from Look at Life Traffic 1964]

submitted 36 days ago • 1 comment

Municipal guide of the day: the former Middlesex Municipal Borough of Wood Green. This guide dates from the early 1960s and features the Scandinavian inspired Wood Green Civic Centre which opened in 1958 and is still in use as the Civic Offices of the present day London Borough of Haringey.

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

'Building Modern Scotland' exists! Publication date is 6 Feb; it'll be available Open Access (free) online then, & in print. Big thanks to all co-authors inc. (on here) @lynncabrams.bsky.social @vawright10.bsky.social, & funder @leverhulme.bsky.social. I'll trail some themes in the coming week...

submitted 37 days ago • 7 comments

One to add to the 1980s anti-cuts badges: Islington’s Save Our Services campaign

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

🚨 New on Substack: Part One of my two-part post on the 'infamous' Hulme Crescents in Manchester; completed 1971, demolished 1994: municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-hulme-...

submitted 38 days ago • 5 comments