real time web analytics
Report - - Bow Gentlemans Public toilets - London - June - 2015 | Other Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Bow Gentlemans Public toilets - London - June - 2015

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

mrwhite

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I wasnt even going to post a report on this place until i watched the Elephant man and had a scene in there showing a similar layout.

its true what slayaaa was saying you can cover it in 10mins its that small, thats why i didnt bother putting more than 6 images.

a bit of history

The gentlemen's WC is below street level, identified by decorative iron railings and cast-iron gates at ground level. The railings have scroll panels, pointed railheads, cusped pyramidal post heads, and the initals 'WEG' in the centre. The gates are similarly ornate, having scrolled tops. The railings bound a crescent shaped space, with gates at both ends where two flights of stairs descend to a central entrance to the WC. The walls are lined with white glazed bricks and there is a foundation stone announcing that the amenity was 'CONSTRUCTED BY / THE BOARD OF WORKS / FOR THE / POPLAR DISTRICT / OPENED 1899'. The original handrail to the stairs survives, leading down through an opening with pink granite lintel to the WC. The interior walls are lined with glazed, cream/beige bricks to dado level and white above, with two green glazed brick courses at dado height, and the floor is terrazzo. The triangular shaped chamber is lit by a skylight in its furthest corner, but there is evidence that electric lighting was also provided in each of the six cubicles that line the right hand side of the room; these are divided by partitions in a classical design. They are heavily painted but appear, where the paint has peeled away, to have a marble veneer. The cubicle doors and toilets have been removed. Lining the left hand side of the room is a row of russet marble urinals, the originals, bearing their makers' mark (George Jennings, of Palace Wharf, Lambeth) on both the porcelain and in a roundel which also bears the royal arms. Near the entrance is a partitioned section where formerly there would have been washbasins or an attendant's room.


1
bow%206_zpspy9fj1iq.gif


2
View attachment 640510

3
View attachment 640511

4
View attachment 640512

5
View attachment 640513

6
View attachment 640514


 

mrwhite

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
found some more info especially about the red paint

thew toilets were opened as an arts installation called "Listed Loo" for just one weekend in 2012.

http://www.listedtheatre.com/

The arts installation involved red paint which is why some of the tiles are daubed in it. This red paint is symbolic of the statue which sits above the toilets. The statue is of the then Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone erected in 1882 by Theodore Bryant of the nearby Bryant & May match factory. The statue was erected using the surplus money Bryant & May gained once matches were no longer taxed (the taxes were abolished in theory to increase the worker’s wages).The female workers were forced to take a half day’s unpaid leave to celebrate the statue’s unveiling and are said to have cut their arms in protestation.The outstretched hand of the statue has been daubed with red paint on several occasions as a tribute to the women.

all credit to Paul Talling

bow%202_zpsddwqeycg.gif

how it looked after they cleaned it in 2012

 
Last edited:

weezdeez

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I remember using some public toilets in Exeter when I was a kid. Looked up to see some paedo looking over at me... just saying...

Thanks for the report :)
 

mrwhite

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
im keeping an eye on this hopefully theyl open it once again, would be fab to see it all cleaned up
 
Top