David Murray John (DMJ) Building, Swindon

Image: © Brian Robert Marshall Taken: 19 Feb 2010

This building was constructed by the Council in the early 1970s. The lower part is given over to office uses and the upper to flats. Originally the flats, although owned and managed by the local authority, were prestige units. However, I believe they eventually became part of the housing revenue account stock. The building is named after the Town Clerk of Swindon who was the senior council officer from before the war until April 1974 when Swindon Borough Council became Thamesdown Borough Council under the 1974 re-organisation of local government. Sadly he died only a few months later. His achievements were manifold. He purchased a stately home for the Council Image and predicted the eventual demise of the railway works, which closed in 1986, and ensured that other manufacturing industries set up here.

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