World Postcard Day The Azure Window and an anouncement

 Today is the first ever World Postcard Day. I thought in that case it would be a good time to relaunch the blog.

I took some time out partly for personal reasons but also because I was questioning the taste of a  blog pinpointing places of companies which no longer exist when we are all living with such uncertainty.

For the foreseeable future after today's post this particular part of the blog will be retired and I will instead be concentrating on sh owing some mini collections within my wider collection.

Today's post shows something we have not seen much of on this blog, a vanished natural phenomena. The Azure Window in Malta was a rock formation and popular tourist attraction in Gozo.

The card below is from the 70s and already by the 80s it had started to erode. Between 2012 and 2016 parts of the arch started to collapse, widening the window significantly. The final collapse took place on 8th March 2017 when storms destroyed the pillar.

Majestic Monday - The Majestic Building Detroit

Detroit has featured on this blog before and likely will again.

Today's building, part of the Majestic Monday series,was constructed in 1896 and was, for the first 7 year's of its existence the tallest building in Detroit standing at 223ft or 68 metres.

It's original owner was  Christopher R. Mabley who was a bit of a local character and household name.  His strong of shops and department stores throughout Michigan earned him the nickname 'The Merchant Prince' He was a popular and familiar face in Detroit and locals tried to stand that the area he had chosen  for his stores was haunted but as not deterred and did good business.
Perhaps they were correct as Manley died aged just 49 the year before the Majestic was completed. The original plan for the 14 storey building was the first 8 floors would be for the department store and the remaining 6 would be offices.  Alas it was not to be as the owners used it only for offices. However his legacy lived in the name as Majestic was the chosen moniker for the skyscraper due to the amount of M's already carved into the stonework.
Perhaps the most popular part was the observation deck on the roof from where you could enjoy views for 12 miles, something quite novel and exciting at the time. In a link.to a previous subject on here The offices were The campaign centre for the 1900 presidential elections where McKinley was a candidate.

The building survived a fire in 1915 and made the news again the following year when Harry H. Gardiner aka 'The Human Fly' climbed the outside of the building to huge crowds waiting silently below. I don't know when the below card is from but I think I it is a good depiction of the building.

Ultimately as tastes changed the building fell out of favour and money was spend on new constructions rather than maintaining older buildings. In 1951 some masonry fell from the  6th floor and only narrowly missed hitting someone.
10 years later the building was closed and eventually demolished a year later.

Majestic Monday - The Majestic Building Denver Colorado

Today's Majestic Monday depicts The Majestic  building in Denver Colorado.
I will confess that I cannot find out an awful lot about it and the information I do have comes from the Denver Post blog.
It was designed by local architect Frank E. Erdbrooke who also designed other prominent buildings in Denver which are still standing. It was constructed between 1894 and 1896. I am not sure for what purpose it was initially used but from 1908 until 1971 it housed the Colorado State Bank. On the ground floor it was home to the Earnest Drugstore until 1970. I am not sure what companies had the building until its closure and demolition in 1977, not do I know why it was demolished.
I can tell you that the card below was published by the Souvenir Publishing and Mercantile Company and was sent in November 1907 to a Mrs Parker of  Oxford, Alabama.

A very short history of Mount Lowe Railway.

Mount Lowe Railway was a 7 mile long touristic railway on Mount Lowe in California.
It was opened in 1893 and was idea of  Thaddeus S. Lowe  who wanted to make the mountains and beautiful scenery available for all. As well as the scenic railway the area also included  a hotel, astronomical observayory, casino and menagerie. It did prove to be popular with tourists attracting visitors from all over the world.
However throughout its short existence it was beset with tragedy. A fire destroyed the hotel in 1900 and one five years later destroyed the casino. There were also floods,gales and storms and a further fire in 1936.
It was decided not to rebuild and the Railway was out of business. It was finally closed in 1938 and not much of the Railway exists today though its ruins are considered a historical landmark.

I have two cards. This first one was posted in 1924 and depicts the Great Incline which inclined around 3000ft and was one of the main draws for the railway enthusiasts.

The second card is undated and shows a packed cable car.

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Wish list

Slight change of remit today as I list a few places I would like cards of but do not have.
The Futurist Cinema in Liverpool -
A beautiful Georgian style building and instantly recognisable ton to Liverpudlians/Merseysiders. It was demolished in 2016

The Curzon Cinema, Old Swan in Liverpool - Gorgeous Art Deck building in its heyday. I used to see it on the bus into town though it had seen better days by then. It was demolished in 2015

Grosvenor Place Hall of residence - My old student digs. Happy memories of the place. I don't think cards of it exist though they do for other university buildings. It would be nice if they did though.
Kolmanskop - a famous abandoned town in Namibia. I have seen cards of it when it was still populated but they have always been slightly out of my price range and they sell quickly. Maybe someday.
Any card from The Titanic - These exist but they cost at least a month's salary so they will always be a dream.

Groes Village - Reduced to Rubble

In a bit of a twist from the usual subject matter for this blog, the building still exists, but the village it is part of does not.
Groes village, near Port Talbot in South Wales was a planned village designed by renowned architect Edward Haycock and built in the 1830s.
The village contained houses, a school and the Beulah Calvanistic Methodist Chapel also known as The Round Chapel or Capel y Groes in Welsh.
Photographs of the village itself show a picturesque little place which wouldn't have looked out of place in an Avengerland style ITC production.
Unfortunately for Groes the construction of the M4 motorway commenced in 1961 and in 1974 despite protests , a fight with The Welsh Office and the local council's suggestion of an alternative route, the government decided that Groes would be demolished.
21 families were rehoused, homes and the school destroyed and the village was all but obliterated. It was eventually demolished in 1976 and all that remains now is a section of grass with the village's name stamped on it.
Well that is not quite all that remains. As I stated at the top of this post, the chapel still exists. The Grade II listed building and the only surviving octagonal chapel in Wales was dismantled in 1975/6 and relocated to nearby Tollgate Park where I'm remains to this day.
The below card is published by Frith in 1938 and shows the building in its original location.

Majestic Monday - The Majestic Hotel St Anne's on Sea.

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that quite a few places called The Majestic seem to have been demolished so I thought I might try to make a feature of it and so I am launching Majestic Monday's where I will feature one such card.
Like other places featured before, The Majestic Hotel in St Anne's on Sea in Lancashire was once the largest of its kind, that being English seaside hotels. St Anne's on Sea was created in 1875 as an alternative holiday destination to nearby Blackpool. It was always considered a bit more upmarket than its neighbour so It is not surprising that it wanted accommodation to reflect that.
The hotel was built in 1909/1910 and was initially called The Imperial. It retained this name for 10 years before being renamed The Majestic in 1920. In its heyday it was a symbol of the town , dominating the seafront, and a classic example of Edwardian architecture. It attracted many famous guests such as Winston Churchill and The Marc Brothers.
It remained popular throughout the 40s and 50s, but, as we have seen on this blog before, it could not compete with increasingly cheaper overseas travel and by the early 1970s bookings had seriously declined.

It was finally closed and then demolished in 1975. Apartment blocks stand there now.

The postcard was published by Valentine's and is not dated.

Courtaulds Chimney.

It is strange that so many of the structures featured here were once the superlative of their kind.

So is the case with today's subject matter.

Courtaulds was a British company which manufactured artificial fibres, chemicals and clothing. Founded in 1794 by George Courtauld and his cousin Peter Taylor , it continued production until 1990. If the name sounds familiar, that's because his great nephew Samuel Courtauld founded the Courtauld Institute of Art who have made some appearances on University Challenge recently.




The company had many production sites throughout the UK. The card below shows the chimney at the Foleshill Road Works site in Coventry At the time it was built in 1924 it was believed to be Britain's biggest chimney, standing at 365 ft tall it dominated the surrounding houses. It was also immortalised in the local ditty below.




Now, Courtaulds built a chimney, it was not built for smoke. It took the stink from Foleshill, & dropped it over Stoke




The factory closed in 2007 and the chimney demolished on 10th March 2010. Once again I seem to have accidentally blogged something close to an anniversary.