74 THE BUILDING CONSERVATION DIRECTORY 2025 CATHEDRAL COMMUNICATIONS VICTORIAN IRON and GLASS ROOFS JONATHAN TAYLOR and FAYE DAVIES IN THE 19th and early 20th centuries, huge metal-framed buildings and cavernous halls filled with natural light were constructed in urban centres across the UK. Their forms and uses varied widely, from train stations and tram sheds to market halls and pavilions. Over the years many of them fell out of use and became redundant. Some found temporary use as carparks, while others were demolished. In recent decades those that survived are being rediscovered and brought back into vibrant new uses, often forming the centre piece in urban regeneration schemes, helping to transform neighbourhoods. The large, well-lit open spans of glass framed with wrought iron or steel create flexible spaces that suit a variety of uses, and the aesthetic of reused Victorian and Edwardian utilitarian architecture and engineering has broad appeal. The development of these building from the mid-19th century was made possible by several factors. Firstly, the removal of a glass tax in Britain and Ireland in 1845 coincided with improvements in the manufacture of glass sheet that enabled much larger panes to be produced. Secondly, the rise of modular construction using columns of cast iron to support trusses of wrought iron enabled much lighter structures. Before these developments, light and air was admitted into market buildings by using clerestory windows and rooflights. At the Grainger Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, which was one of the largest market buildings in the country when it was completed in 1835, was enclosed by massive masonry walls with clerestory windows and 50 rooflights across its two huge halls. Ten years later, hot on the heels of the new tax regime, the roof of a new market hall in Birkenhead was constructed with delicate wrought iron trusses and glazed from end to end. Below, the trusses were supported on cast iron columns rather than solid masonry walls, unifying the aisles into a single space. At the time the effect was revolutionary, and the site became a popular tourist attraction when it was being built in 18451. The engineers were Fox and Henderson who went on to work for Joseph Paxton on the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and then with Brunel for the construction of London’s Paddington Station which opened in 1854. Joseph Paxton was the head gardener at Chatsworth where he had developed many horticultural glasshouses. In this field, rolled sections of wrought iron had largely replaced timber glazing bars for the construction of glasshouses because the smaller profiles let more light into the building. For the Crystal Palace, Paxton used arches over a short section at the highest point of the building, but most areas were essentially flat-roofed, with small, pitched roof trusses arranged one after another to create a ‘ridge and furrow’ roof structure, a system Paxton had developed for the construction of garden hothouses. 1 James Schmiechen and Kenneth Carls, The British Market Hall, Yale 1999 Grainger Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, was one of the largest market buildings in the country when it was completed in 1835, shortly before the advent of large-scale roof glazing systems. Its interiors were illuminated by clerestory windows and 50 rooflights. (Photo: Jonathan Taylor) At Paddington, Brunel used three parallel vaults of glass and wrought iron arches carried on beams slung between columns, and these three were intersected by two subsidiary ones, opening up views across the platforms. The largest of the spans was a little over 30 metres. For the expanding urban centres these buildings with their light roofs of glass and iron roofing were revolutionary. Glazed roofs were quickly adopted for any building which required large, open floor areas, like a factory or train shed, but also for new forms of decorative architecture such as the winter gardens found in many Victorian seaside towns.
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