Lloyds Avenue / Electric House
-
The deco frontage of Electric House is rather fine: see
the detail of a flattened capital of a false pillar (above) showing
cylinders at the top - perhaps symbolising electrical cable insulators
- with a zig-zag lightning motif linking fan-shaped light symols with
shining five pointed stars at the bottom. Electric House forms one side
of
the Tower
Ramparts
bus station concourse, although it's still officially part of Lloyds
Avenue.
At ground level is a shop unit (once Radio Orwell studios and The Futon Shop) and way
up
high is the stone / concrete relief showing the crest of the
electricity
supply company; the magnificently intertwined letters:
'IESC'
stand for Ipswich
Electricity Supply Centre; surrounded by art deco power symbols and the
furled banner proclaiming
in all its grandiosity:
This lettering was made by
Saunders Stonemasons, the "largest and best
equipped masons in East Anglia", who were based at 21 Cemetery
Road (we think that there is still a stonemasons business there).
Saunders also won contracts to supply war grave headstones in France
and Belgium, including memorials at Loos, Thiepval and, now partnered
with Ipswich, Arras. This is a late addition
to this website as it was only noticed in Spring, 2004; it is shrouded
in tall trees during spring, summer and autumn.
Thanks for the extra information to Ed Broom's Seven Wonders Of Ipswich
website linked here. Here's a bit more:
Back in 1903, the Electric Supply Undertaking of the Ipswich
Corporation was begun. A booklet from the 1930s states that "the power
station ... is thoroughly up-to-date and contains five
turbo-alternators." That same decade saw the building of:
• Lloyds Avenue, linking to
the Cornhill,
• the Odeon, opened 1936,
now the Mecca bingo hall [the single white brick in the wall facing the
back of Debenhams commemorates the death of a building worker during
construction, the brick marking the place in the wall where he was
working when he fell],
• and Electric House itself
An old Kelly's ad from the 60s reads:
Consumers and intending consumers of electricity in the Borough and
District of Ipswich are assured that their electrical requirements,
whether of an industrial, commercial or domestic character, will
receive prompt, careful and competent attention at the ...
ELECTRICITY SERVICE CENTRE
... where inquiries are welcomed, advice is free, apparatus may
be discussed and selected, and arrangements can be made for safe and
satisfactory wiring of every type of electrical installation.
Eastern Electricity Board
Ipswich District Office and Service Centre
"Electric House," Lloyds Avenue
Telephone Ipswich 56061
There's also a terrific period photo of the Service Centre in all its
glory,
window displays filled with lamps and fittings and our 'IESC 'crest and
lettering, now so grimy, floodlit at the top centre of the building. At
the same level as
the clock (which is still there) are more large letters stretched
around the side and front:
POWER .. COOK .. HEAT .. FANS .. SIGNS
The fine masonic lettering which proclaims 'LLOYDS
AVENUE' on the Cornhill
arch contrasts with the modest steel street sign on the bakery at the
upper
end of the street. Interesting (and quite rare) use of the superior
'VE'.
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throughout the Ipswich
Historic Lettering site: Borin Van Loon
No reproduction of text or images without express written permission
