Coventry Technical College

Some of my photos via the link in post #1

Sorry MR, guilty at not looking through old posts before posting. Your pictures show they left quite a bit of the old architecture. I love that style, never know the difference between art deco and art nouveau. I like watching Poirot for the same reason. Thank you for pointing out your post of the pictures.

It means a lot to me too. At the Junior Tech we held our school assemblies in the Theatre which was sometimes used for dramatic productions, one I appeared in was a scene from Moli

Art Deco followed on from Art Nouveau Anne, but you may already be aware. In many ways Deco was less graceful (Nouveau had swirls and curls) witness Deco artists like Klimt in Vienna, more chunky and with much gold embellishment. (Cubism followed) I'm also a Poirot fan.

That reminds me Prof. My school production of "Toad of Toad Hall" was transferred to the Technical College Theatre around 1964 when the KHVIII school hall burnt down a few days before the opening night. The fire destroyed the Toad Hall set with double staircase, together with Toads' various means of transport. However THE SHOW DID GO ON! The play was relocated to the Technical College Theatre and a vastly simplified set was constructed with all the art classes in the school painting scenes on the canvas backdrops, my class painted leaves that were attached to strings to create the forest scenery. Toads' transport now consisted of chairs and tables to represent the car and carriage, like most of us probably did with our own dining chairs at home! The production was a huge success and the simple props let the acting speak for itself.

My friend G Pugh was college lecturer at the Tech, maybe around the 1990 time, in Metallurgy. He had worked at Sterling Metals.

Looking lovely in 1955

Hello Anne, Apologies but I have only just seen your post, hence the late reply. To add to the excellent photo's in this thread, as a family we have stayed at the Premier Inn on maybe a dozen occasions in recent years and always use it as our base whenever visiting Coventry. Also, I was a student at the Tech in the mid/late 70's so the building holds a certain nostalgic appeal to me. I would say the conversion to a hotel has been made fairly sympathetically and a number of the original features are still present. The shell of the main building has been retained, as has the entrance hall with its' high front doors and foyer area. The theatre is still in commercial use and leading from the foyer is the original staircase where you can see the wear on the steps closest to the handrail caused by many hundreds of thousands of feet over the years. The ground floor to the right serves as the hotel restaurant and the ground floor to the left has been blocked off from public use. The first floor to the left is now office space and the remainder of the main building is taken up with hotel bedrooms. The long corridors are still there, as are the original windows, although in the bedrooms these are fronted with a pane of double glazing. The former engineering blocks and workshops to the right have sadly gone, replaced by office accommodation. The last building before the Butts Park Arena is a multi storey car park. We always enjoy our visits to the hotel, to me it is still the Tech as there are many features from its' history still present. I would think it is also a very unique hotel in the Premier Inn portfolio.

Thanks for that, Skyblue. I am glad they were sympathetic with the original building, I love that style of architecture. Yes, I would have added to the wear on the stairs. Day release Business Studies and after that my friend and I did a dressmaking night class. Had to take a whole year to make a suit and when I had finished it I was so fed up with it I only wore it once! I learned a lot though.

Yes Anne, it's still a building with great presence and more than just a hotel to me. I too did Business Studies there, albeit full time for two years. Had to pass on the dressmaking though. It's also nice to park literally right outside the front door in spaces previously reserved for Messrs Arculus, Longden et al, although it costs £5 per day for the privilege.

I too have stayed at that Premier Inn on a few occasions when visiting Coventry. The hotel reception is just inside the main doors to the right. It doesn't seem to have any impact on the original building and there is no reason (unless visiting the Albany Theatre) to venture into the main vestibule as shown in the photograph at all.

I know there were a few cries of protest when Premier Inn moved in to create the hotel but tbh I'm glad they did as it probably helped save the building. I'm always glad to see the Albany Theatre keep selling well for performances - I was meaning to go to their Christmas Carol production over the festive period but ran out of time. The only slight hindrance with the hotel is now they have created a car park in front of the building, the turn into it can get blocked whenever someone wants to enter/exit due to the traffic that's stopped at the Albany Road/Butts traffic lights right outside.

See, it does look like Buckingham Palace!

It does indeed Neil, but I bet Buckingham Palace doesn't have a large puddle every time it rains like the one at the Tech did. My husbands BSA Scout stalled in the middle of the one outside the Tech and two kind men passing by helped him to push it out.

Hi Dreamtime. Maybe they have bigger buckets and more people to deploy them? I think that repairing roofs like that is a bit of an endless task.