On the Waterfront - my office window
In a previous blog about the On the Waterfront exhibition I named a glass lantern slide view of George's Dock as one of my favourites. Now I thought I would share another of my favourite images from the exhibition. Taken in 1982 this photograph shows Albert Dock in a derelict state before the start of the redevelopment work. It is shown in the section of the exhibition called Decline, which focuses on the period after the South Docks closed to shipping and before they were regenerated into the landscape we know today. The man who took the photograph, Phil Collins, also features in the exhibition. An interview with him, and more of his interesting photographs of the redevelopment, are included in the gallery.
The main reason I like this image is not because of its clever composition - with the warehouse walls, the chimney of the Pump House and the Radio City tower drawing the eye into the view, but because it shows my office. As I am typing this I can look out of the fourth doorway up on the photograph. It is actually the second floor inside the building and is now the office of the Archives Centre where I am based. Thankfully it is now a glazed window, although still a little drafty in the stormy weather we've been having. Seeing this photograph makes me realise how fortunate it is the Albert Dock and its warehouses survived the 1970s and 1980s and appreciate the new chapter in its life.
Lead image: Photograph of Albert Dock by Phil Collins, 1982 (Maritime Archives and Library reference PR/623/834/12).