History
The frontage of the Office Building, added in 1939 and wonderfully Art-Deco inside, from what we could see through the windows.
The Edwardian section of the very large fascade at St James’
The frontage of the Office Building, added in 1939 and wonderfully Art-Deco inside, from what we could see through the windows.
The Northampton Corporation Tramways, a subsidiary of the town council, bought out the town’s dated street tramway system in 1901, replacing the horse drawn Tramway with a contemporary, electrified network.
The tram lines remain set into the floor despite them being redundant since 1934
St James Garage was built in 1904 with the money raised from the sale of the horses and the tram-cars. The site had space for 24 Trams as well as space for maintaining them. With the arrival of the internal combustion engine, Tramways ended in Northampton in 1934 with conventional buses taking over the network.
The vast spaces that once held the fleet, up to 60 Buses in varying states of commission at any one time
With a need for more space for the buses, the site at St James’ expanded with work starting in 1937 and eventually opened in 1939. The extension included the instantly recogniseable Art Deco style Northampton Corporation Transport Offices. Services at this time were operated by Northampton Transport Limited.
The Edwardians certainly knew how to make even the most mundane of buildings visually appealing
Servicing Ramp remains in situ although now looking worse for wear
In 1993, First East Midlands took over the bus network, using the original bus Garage and offices until they ceased operations in 2013. The building has since been left disused although was at one point sold to Church’s Shoe Factory next door.
The doors are since seized up but offered a nice frame between modern and original
Explore
Peely. Nice.
Explore
Peely. Nice.
Entry was simpler than I could’ve hoped for, a quick under the fence and through the door job. On the other side we were greeted with a magnificently vast space which save for the natural decay and resident pigeons, seemed largely unmolested. The sight took me back to one of my favourite teenage haunts at Woodford Aerodrome, the last time I saw something on this scale.
A slice of the Hacienda in Northampton
The depot itself was largely same-y all around however the rooms off to the right hand side offered some more interesting features. The offices that I showed in my photo before proved inaccessible due to seco being in the room between us and them.
A mixture of mid 20th Century furnishing and late 20th Century Health and Safety
Ironically, the only place in the building where there weren’t any Pigeons
We were aware that security were present in the building however the sound of our footsteps was nought compared to the deafening creaks of the building and coos of our little grey friends. We ended up about 10ft away from them at one point undetected.
Staff Room - for something that operated until just 10 years ago it looks very of it’s time
Busy little corridor
Overall, a nice explore and quite leisurely despite the usual implications of security presence. Especially relieved to see a place of such easy access and unique architecture that has evaded the claws of vandalism. Maybe they’re a different breed down in Northampton!
Cheers, Jonesy
