Canon'S Marsh Goods Shed

BRISTOL

ST5872NW ANCHOR ROAD, Canon's Marsh 901-1/15/495 (South side) 05/08/92 Canon's Marsh Goods Shed

GV II

Railway goods shed. 1906. Architectural assistant PE Culverhouse. Engineer W Armstrong. For the Great Western Railway. Reinforced concrete on the Hennebique system, built by Robinson of Bristol for the Great Western Railway, a pioneer in the early use of this system; partially clad in render and blue engineering bricks, roof not visible. Open plan. 2 storeys, 10 bays long and 4 wide. Ground-floor station open to the S side, with warehouse above. S elevation has square stanchions to a cornice, beneath pilasters to a second-floor cornice, with blind panels alternating with metal-framed windows with glazing bars. The N side has a ground floor of black brick piers to segmental arches with 6-light mullion and transom windows. At the E end the attached 2-storey, 3-window range office block has a blue brick plinth, plat band and cornice, brick segmental-arched head dressings to a central doorway, blind windows to the right, and 5-window side elevations. INTERIOR: stanchions support 2 wide, parabolic arches spanning the centre bays, with half arches to side aisles. HISTORICAL NOTE: built by the GWR to terminate the line into the docks from the west, and has a significant place in the development of Canon's Marsh, for much of the C19 an industrial backwater. It occupies a very early and significant place in the introduction of reinforced concrete systems into Britain. The drawings (dated variously 1904) are marked from the office of LG Mouchel and quote the Hennebique patent for ferro-concrete construction. W Armstrong was the engineer responsible for new works on the Great Western Railway, which played a pioneering role in the introduction of this method of construction. (Great Western Magazine: 1906-).

Listing NGR: ST5838072551