Should try and get that or at least part of it habitable and put someone in to look after it , otherwise eventually it will go like so many other listed buildings go , up in flames gone forever...
That is why scaffolding is there, it is supposed to be getting turned into flats. Developer said it would cost £1m before the fire to refurbish thanks to council not maintaining it.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
Ravenswood has had its structural survey and it is classed as having 20% damage but is structurally sound.
The building was insured.
They are going to remove and store the chimneys and part of the roof as a precaution in case of high winds. They are also allocating community patrol 24/7 alongside Occulus the current security firm.
Torus, the developers, are still intending to rebuild it.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
Good , I’m glad , such a lovely house . I used to clean it years ago during my stint as a school cleaner. Used to love it when I was there on my own , thinking about all the grand people going down that lovely staircase.
I used to be around after school quite a bit, there were a couple of cleaners looking busy in Ravenswood, you'd go back an hour later and they were still doing the banister. I think they just preferred being in that building than the rest of the school. I quite liked the main building as well, the new concrete buildings were just trash.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
Ravenswood seems to be the building that refuses to die. I joined Rock Ferry in Sep 1983 and I recall Ravenswood was inaccessible thanks to scaffolding and boards as there had recently been a fire (fellow students used to mention names of people they said had committed the arson attack but won't mention the names here). Once restored, it was a 6th form building. Around the back, you could still see names and dates that had been scratched into the stones and the concrete over the years, some dating back to the 50s and even before. You could get a real sense of history of the place. I was only ever allowed in there once to sit a biology exam I'd missed in 1985 or 86 IIRC, but it was a handsome building with beautiful features. I was saddened to hear of the demolition of my school but was happy that one part of it would continue to exist, albeit as flats. I hope that this latest damage is superficial and that the building can be saved again.
Hi Edward, see you've just joined so welcome.....nice to read your post about Ravenswood I've often wondered about the history of it and who lived their in the past . There is some information but not a lot. Like reading posts from other parts of the world, how are you managing with this Corona virus?
One of the guys from my year, Stacy Conroy, made this video just before the place was demolished. Sad to watch it, but it brought back loads of good memories. Over here, coronavirus means we are under a curfew, which pretty much means lockdown. We've got around 190 infected cases and 7 deaths, so nothing like back home! How about you guys? .
Last edited by EdwardH; 10th Apr 20205:53pm. Reason: wrong place to post this.
Yes I have seen that video , it's a good one. Pretty bad here with this virus but London seems to worse for it. We in lockdown and really should only be going out for essential shopping, medical reason or excercise meaning maybe a walk pretty much near home and if course social distancing..A lot of people not adhering to it though . We'll all just have to pray that things will get back to normal soon but I guess we've all got to be patient and do what we're told.
