‘Imagine a world full of towns like Croydon – uniformed commercial utility. Croydon was built by capitalism to reiterate capitalism. It makes people servile. Croydon is deathtown’*
The Architecture Foundation know how to sell a thing, don’t they?
First stop on the architect’s tour of Croydon? What will they make of the Sainsbury’s add-on store?
Croydon’s architecture is the subject of a guided walk tomorrow afternoon, led by Merlin Fulcher, an architectural journalist, in the first of a series of such tours “exploring the capital’s resurgent fringes”, they say.
In fairness, an outside perspective, with no direct interests in the town centre nor over-wrought and over-emotional faux attachment to the place’s brutalist multi-storey car parks might make a refreshing change from the usual witless babble that we endure from the paid PR spinners, development apologists and Glee Club members.
“Explore the 1961 Fairfield Halls and Croydon’s new Civic Hub, the historic Surrey Street market and the old town. Hear the remarkable voices of Croydon’s past and present. Learn about the council’s architect-led place making and all the latest developments,” runs the blurb.
The two-hour walk starts at 2pm outside East Croydon Station, but it does require you to book a place, and a £10 fee.
UPDATE: The Architecture Foundation tells us that Croydon is exceedingly popular, and that all the places for tomorrow’s walk have now been taken…
* And that quote? It’s taken from former Croydon Art College student Jamie Reid’s agitprop magazine, Suburban Press.
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