In Warsaw's Norblin factory before redevelopment

The Norblin metalwork factory on the corner of ul. Żelazna and Prosta functioned for over 150 years under various guises before being closed in 1982. After that, part of the premises became a museum (closed in 2008). The entire site is to be redeveloped as a mixed-use retail and business centre, with a focus on innovative start-ups and stores not found in mainstream malls. Interesting! I like these post-industrial spaces, which Łódź is becoming famous for (see my posts on Łódź for pictorial coverage of this phenomenon).

Within a few years, this will have all been modernised - in a sensitive way (like the award-winning Grohmann factory in Łódź) with the old machinery refurbished and mingling with modern retail space and incubators for young entrepreneurs. The future and the past together in one development.

How it looks today:

Two furnaces and trolleys in the bright late-October sunlight

A barrow, probably 19th Century

Another view of the furnaces (sunny day not great for this type of photography)

...and pulling back into the next room for a wider view

Machinery once used for cutting sheet metal

Many films and TV series were shot here

The roof has long gone. The old machinery, resting and rusting.

In the distance, Warsaw Spire gets closer to completion.

My father's first house (as an infant) was just behind this factory, to the left of the photo above, within the same block, on the corner of Żelazna and Łucka, before his family moved to far posher accommodation on ul. Filtrowa. A post-war copy of his birth certificate gave his parents' address as one thousand one hundred and fifty five, ul. Łucka. Given that Łucka then (as now) only goes from 1 to 25, and number 11 was a factory making horse-drawn carriages before the war, the clerk copying out the original must have mistaken the 1/5 as 1155, as the building on the corner of Łucka and Żelazna never had 55 apartments in it.

UPDATE: A helpful reader explained that the 1155 is not the postal address but the number of the premises as recorded into the land and mortgage register. Research reveals that this was ul. Łucka 16, set back off the street, located behind Łucka 16A. My father got to see the building in the summer of 2019, three months before his death. It has since been demolished.

This time two years ago:
Sadness at the death of Tadeusz Mazowiecki

This time four years ago:
More hipster mounts (Warsaw fixieism)

This time five years ago:
Welcome to Warsaw

This time six years ago:
Just like the old days

Quality manufacturing after half a century

Returning to my parents' house from central London today, I espied a Morris Cowley MCV pick-up truck, built between 1950 and 1956. At first sight, it may look like a Morris Minor - only bigger. The Cowley (and the passenger version, the Morris Oxford) were styled along the lines of the Minor, but were powered by a 1.5 litre engine rather than the Minor's 848cc power plant.

How quintessentially English, set against the mid-Victorian houses; a sight so splendidly taking me back to my childhood. Classic vehicles are treasures; their owners should receive Arts Council, National Lottery or National Trust support for keeping them roadworthy. I hope this splendid vehicle will still be gracing the roads of England in another sixty years time!

Closer to home, my parents' fridge (below), a Lec Colonial Model P.40, is still in everyday use, as it has been since October 1961, when it was delivered to our house on Croft Gardens. [The fridge was called 'Colonial'. From the word 'colony'. Which implies white British folk living on a tea plantation in Kenya or in a cantonment on a dusty plain in North-West India.]

I still remember the day it was delivered (in a dark-blue Ford Thames 400E pick-up truck with a green canvas tilt). Since that day, the fridge has been keeping the family food chilled for the past 52 years. Built by the Lec Refrigeration Ltd of Bognor Regis, Sussex, England, this wonderfully-styled fridge is fashionable once again. SMEG fridges trade on their retro style. Though not on their reliability, I am informed.

 My brother jokes that over the past half-century, the fridge has consumed tens of thousands of tonnes of coal to generate the electricity needed to power it over the decades. Its tubing is probably full of chemicals that if released into the earth's atmosphere would destroy the ozone layer and raise the temperature on the planet by 12C.

Below: original leaflet, stapled to the delivery note.

The fridge cost 49 and half guineas (a guinea being one pound and one shilling) or  £51.98. Adjusting for inflation, this is £950 in today's money, when fridges of similar size cost £200. Will they still be working in 2055?

Below: badge of pride - Lec's motto, to excel. Fifty two years of continuous service certainly confirms the excellence of this product.

Another purchase made by my parents in the 1960s that's now approaching its half century is their sofa (with two matching chairs), made by G-Plan of High Wycombe. To my great surprise when I googled it, I discovered the very same sofa is still in production (below), though now as part of a vintage range. Very Mad Men! My parents' sofa has two rows of buttons rather than one, and 15 buttons across rather than the nine here, but is otherwise identical, down to the legs.



The invoice (also preserved) from 1965 is for £153 and 15 shillings (£2440 in today's prices adjusting for inflation). Here, my parents are on to a winner; G-Plan currently charges £3,500 for the Fifty Nine sofa plus two matching chairs. Having said that, the sofa itself, which opens up as a double-bed, could do with some new springs. It's good to know then, that they are still in production!

This time last year:
Fans fly in to Warsaw for Euro 2012

This time two years ago:
Cara al Sol - part II

This time three years ago:
Still struggling with the floodwaters

This time four years ago:
European elections - and I buy used D40
[my Nikon D40 still proving utterly reliable]

The time five years ago:
To the Vistula, by bike

This time six years ago:
Poppy profusion