INSIDE THE LEVIATHAN

EXPLORING NEW St ANDREW’S HOUSE 

Demolition of the doomed St James Centre comes closer day by day.

Boots moved out yesterday, leaving another empty socket in a retail smile now almost devoid of teeth. 

Meanwhile, Spurtle explored the massive and decrepit interior of New St Andrew’s House upstairs. 

There is simply too much to show readers in one article, so we’ll divide what we found into a series of photo-essays over the next few days. We start with some general views of the open spaces within. 

Inside the main entrance fronting St James Square, the foyer – like much of the building – now contains a great deal of builders’ bits-and-bobs.

 

Here there were also, for no obvious reason, parts of a chopped-up tree trunk.

Elsewhere – as here on the 6th floor – there are incongruous mountains of stuff: pipes, ducts, cables, hundreds of doors filleted from the structure and piled ready for removal. 

This is the gantry running above the reception area and leading to the Lift Hall. It has the only section of carpet we found – a delicious shade of 1970s brown.

The lifts aren’t working …

so one ascends via a series of surprisingly steep and narrow flights of steps.

   

Some parts are bright and airy. Others – like this food-preparation area and adjoining canteen – less so.

This boarded up section of the third floor is atmospheric and littered with trip-hazards.

The Toblerone-shaped panes (below) admit light into the corridor between the St James Centre’s Elder Street entrance and the steps/lift up to the Food Court. The chocolatey tinge may owe something to overshadowing, or tinted glass, or general filthiness.

 Here is the same view from the opposite exterior angle.

This former row of toilets connected with perfect symmetry to an identical row on the other side of the wall. If everyone had flushed simultaneously …

there would probably have been a rush to use the showers.

Throughout the building, there are many instances of ingenious propping-up …

not all as effective as others.

Here’s what you see when you get nearly to the top.

And here's what you see when you look down into the central well of the building – the roof of the St James Centre below. This arrangement explains why so much of New St Andrew’s House feels more long and narrow than it does broad and spacious.

We’ll show you the views you get looking outwards from up here later this week.

Tomorrow, we’ll return with some studies of signage and the written word.

--------------------------------