Straight And Curved

It's more shapes and lines from me today. Although I suppose every photo contains shapes and lines! Anyway. Here we have Eagle Tower in the background and The New Club at the front. Its also another contrast of architectural styles. I've posted on Eagle Tower before but I'll fill you in on The New Club today. This former Private Gentlemen's club was formed in 1874 and used to be situated in a building on the Prom. It moved to this fine Regency building in Montpellier Parade in 1970. The club now has open membership for men and women, although you do have to be a professional to join or to have been recommended by a present member. Well, you've got to keep the riff raff out! Speaking of riff raff, I had to deliver something there once and it is very grand inside. Really lovely. High ceilings, sweeping staircase, wooden panelled walls, a library, bars, a restaurant, need I go on?

Watching Over You

Looming large in the background is Eagle Tower and, as a complete contrast, the statue of King William IV in the foreground (click the links for previous posts with all the info you could ever need!) Not much more to say other than old and new make an interesting photo.

Birds Eye View

From the top of Leckhampton Hill you get a clear view right across Cheltenham. Here I've cropped the photo to show you just the town centre. See if you can spot Eagle Tower, the top of the Regent Arcade shopping centre, the Town Hall, Municipal Offices, the Library and Cheltenham Boys College.

I'm away for a few days. I'm hoping Blogger magic will make this post appear like...well...magic! I'll catch up with you all at the end of the week.

Non-Famous Skyline

If I were to show you a photo of the New York skyline you'd know instantly where it was. The same goes for London, Sydney and many other world famous cities. Unfortunately Cheltenham doesn't have such a skyline. The only reason that you'd guess this is my home-town's skyline is because its on a Cheltenham daily photo blog! This photo was taken from the top of Chosen Hill and as you can see Cheltenham is surrounded by hills, mainly the Cotswolds. If you click on the photo to enlarge it you'll get a better view, and an idea of the geography. Our only skyscraper is Eagle Tower, which you can see on the right of the picture. Just past the tower, slightly up the hill, is GCHQ's Oakley site. The Government use this as one of their information gathering (spying) headquarters, the other one is shaped like a big doughnut and is on the opposite side of town. In the photo I've managed to fit in about half of Cheltenham, the majority shows the town centre and surrounding suburbs. If you imagine the same again to the left of the photo, then you get an idea of how big Cheltenham is.

Not so much the Big Apple, but more the Medium Grape!

Towering Above

As a follow up to last weeks photo of the gold eagle at the base of Eagle Tower here is the building itself. Its Cheltenhams tallest building at 161 feet and was opened in October 1968. The tower was first used by Eagle Star Insurance and is now rented out floor by floor to several different companies. The tower is a fine example of how not to build a 60's office block! By many in the town it is seen as an eyesore but, although its not attractive, I like it. I suppose I like it because its always been there and Cheltenham would look odd without it (you can see it from all sorts of different places in and around town). Several members of my family worked there when it was Eagle Star and, on the occasional Saturday morning, when I was a little boy, I used to go to 'work' there with my Dad!

New Build

Cheltenham, like many other towns and cities across the country, has seen an influx of modern buildings, some good some bad. This row of new build town houses is just off of Imperial Gardens and is an example of the sort of developments we are seeing. The Council is following government policy to build on unused sites (brownfield) in town centres before pursuing developments out of town (greenfield). Lots of disused spaces in Cheltenham have had new life breathed into them and the majority of new builds are quite sympathetic to their surroundings. The houses above sit easily with neighbouring Regency buildings and I think they add to the character of Cheltenham. Of course there are some new builds that are seen local as an eyesore, but you've got to take the rough with the smooth!

In the background you can see the Eagle Tower, home of the Golden Eagle from yesterday.

Eagle Eyed

At the foot of Cheltenhams only skyscraper sits this Golden Eagle. Well I say skyscraper, its only 13 storeys high, but it is the towns tallest building at 161 feet! The building is Eagle Tower (former headquaters of insurance company Eagle Star) and has been visible from all over town since its completion in October 1968. When Eagle Star moved to the outskirts of town several years ago the building was renamed Eagle Tower, the office space rented to different companies and the shiny bird of prey kept in place, keeping an eagle eye on a host of new employees.