South Side of the Upper Precinct, Coventry
Introduction
The photograph on this page of South Side of the Upper Precinct, Coventry by A J Paxton as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
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Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 4 Mar 2023
The Coventry Precinct was designed between 1941 and 1949 by Donald Gibson and his team at the city architect's office. It replaced a section of the old city which had been largely destroyed during the air raids of 1940-41. The levelling stone, visible towards the bottom left of the picture, was laid in 1946. The north and south blocks of the Upper Precinct were built in 1954-56 to designs by W S Hattrell and Partners. Though in a modernist style, they were modelled on the Rows of Chester, with lower and upper storeys of shops, the upper rows served by walkways at the front and service ramps at the back Image The upper floor shops were not a success and the units are now used mainly for storage or as offices. A concrete walkway spanning the precinct was removed, and the walkways along the shop fronts were replaced in the 1990s. They provide covered arcades for pedestrians at ground level. The north and south link blocks of the Upper Precinct and the piazza between them have been Grade II listed buildings since 2018; see their entry on the Historic England site https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1449625?section=official-list-entry .
Image Location
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