Tag Archives: architectural drawing

Architectural Drawing, Building conservation, Listed buildings, Newcastle-under-Lyme History

The Old Barracks

June 1, 2022 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

Waiting for the X164 bus from Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre back to Whitmore was a sketch moment. My car must have been getting fixed at Ryan’s garage – sketched here the year before.

I keep places/buildings that I find interesting in mind to draw later – in this case several years later! Recently I’ve concentrated on some new sketches in and around the town centre and I thought I would start sharing the first of them ‘The Barracks’, here.

Barracks Road was once named Friar’s Road; the name changed in recognition of the Barracks. It was built in 1855, in red brick ‘Italian style’. This was the headquarters of the 3rd King’s Own Staffordshire Rifle Regiment, which assembled annually at Newcastle for training, until 1880.

You can discover more about the history of this building here on the Potteries website. I’m delighted to hear that it received a grant a few years ago towards window repairs.

The Barracks workshops is now home to a number of small businesses and has been popping up on various social media posts.

There is also a heritage project running which is looking for people who have memories of the history and uses of this building – more about that on the Sentinel’s website here.

You can see the full set of new drawings on my Drawing the Street website.

The original drawing of the Barracks is available to buy mounted and ready to frame in my etsy shop here .

Thanks for reading

Ronnie 🙂

Burslem conservation, Uncategorized

Post Me a Letter

September 27, 2021 ronniecruwys 2 Comments

I’ve been making my way through a long list of unfinished jobs – gradually bringing things I’ve started to completion. A theme in my drawings caught my attention as I noticed several post offices and letter boxes feature in the streetscapes. I like to include some of the street furniture – bus stops, telephone boxes etc to bring some context.

My most recent street drawings of Acomb, York are now up on my website. I started a set of four drawings back in February 2020 and it has taken 18 months to get them scanned. I return to my former workplace to do this – it gives me the chance to see my old workmates at HHA in Stafford (see later on in this post) . I will write more about the Acomb drawings in another post but wanted to take a moment to look at post offices on my streetscapes.

Lets scroll back through my work …. here we are in Lanark, 2019 on West Port. The Post Office is now on Bannantyne Street but this letter box remains outside the location of the old PO on West Port.

Mucky Paws now settled in Lanark’s former Post Office

*Post Box on the corner of Greenside Lane and Hope Street, Lanark*

There’s a rare Victorian (VR) letter box built into the wall outside Christ Church on Hope St, Lanark, well maintained in painted pillar box red.

Post Box – VR Victoria Regina – outside Christ Church, Lanark.

Moving down to Eccleshall in Staffordshire, I picked up the Post Office on Stafford Street, where there is a substantial ‘ER’ post box outside.

*Post Office, Stafford Street, Eccleshall*

You can see the rest of this street here on my street archive blog.

Next up is a sketch I made of the letter box on the platform at Stoke-on-Trent station.

*Post Box on the platform at Stoke-on-Trent station*

This is a bit of a personal favourite as it has a connections to old friends in Staffordshire. This one is a ‘GR’ – George Rex.

Stepping back on the Drawing the Street time line, we reach Audlem, Cheshire. Back in 2014 there was a Post Office here on Stafford Street.

*Post Office (long since gone) Stafford Street, Audlem, Cheshire*

Last of all, is Market Place in Burslem. This too was drawn in 2014.

A regular double sized ‘ER’ post box sits outside the PO Burslem. Here, I included one of my work colleagues, with a bag inscribed ‘HHA’ (Horsley Huber Architects), which marked that the office had been involved in some repair work on this building back then.

I love these little details. They bring the drawings alive!

Thanks as always for reading,

Ronnie

Architectural Drawing, Eccleshall Architecture

Happy Birth Year Mr Renshaw!

August 25, 2016 ronniecruwys 4 Comments

pen ink and natural pigment wash on cartridge paper — Cottages on Stone Road Eccleshall, Staffordshire

Not long ago I received an email from Mr Tom Renshaw who used to live at no 9 Stone Road Eccleshall. Tom had received a birthday card from his daughter which showed the cottages closer to the town centre which I drew a couple of years ago.

2crop Stone Rd Eccleshall Ronnie Cruwys

Tom gave some insights into the earlier life of some of the buildings – the wooden fronted building used to be a corn merchant, ‘F.Gardner’ and the building next to it a bakery, ‘where we would buy bread fresh from the oven and eat it without butter or anything else’.

Stone Rd Eccleshall Ronnie Cruwys.jpg

When you reach 82, why not celebrate the whole year? It allows me time to wish you a very happy belated birthday Tom and to sign off with a close up of your former home.

Stone Rd 7 to 13.jpg

Pen and ink drawing, Sketching, urban sketching

Gifts

August 10, 2016 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

Gift from John

A few years ago John, our son, gave me a hefty 10 metre roll of lovely thick cartridge paper as well as a concertina sketch book with another 10 metres of drawing paper.

The roll of cartridge paper made me commit to that first long street drawing (you can look back on that here) but the sketch book has remained unopened until last week when I received another gift out of the blue from Laura – some Uniball pens. Now these are the pens I turn to first for my on-the-hoof street sketches as they are waterproof and lightfast and have a range of fine points giving pin-sharp lines.

Last Saturday was forecast fair so I took off to the historic market town of Leek, in the heart of the Staffordshire Moorlands, with my new pens and sketchbook. 1 Leek Church St

Leek has to be the friendliest town centre I’ve drawn in so far. It was a busy Saturday with a lot of people in town and although I was on Church Street, tucked out of sight of the main square, people still came over to see what I’d drawn and to pass the time of day with me. The sketches are pretty rough and ready but should help me get set up for the more formal drawing to follow.

2 Leek Church St Parker House — *Parker House (16th Century), one of a number of medieval buildings in the town.*

I’m planning on drawing a series of streets in Leek which I hope I will have ready in time to go up in a shared exhibition in November at the Foxlowe Art Centre when Staffordshire Artists Cooperative will be putting on a joint display of their work.

3 Leek Stockwell st Foxlowe — *Foxlowe Arts Centre*

4 Leek WHite HArt tea room Stockwell — *White Hart Tea Room*

I travelled light with my kit: a few Uniball unipin pens, a single ultramarine blue watercolour pan, a Pentel black ink brush and a waterbrush pen. I go easy with the brush pens on this paper but it helps to add a bit of shading to the buildings by dabbing some of the ink into a jam jar lid (travel palette) to dilute it first.

5 leek Stockwell.jpg

urban sketch leek — *Sketching on the go*

sky guys Leek — *Not forgotten these two Sky gentlemen from my visit to Leek in 2014 – I will get round to including you on a drawing!*

Thanks for reading

Ronnie

Architecture, Burslem Heritage, Uncategorized, Wedgwood Institute

From Congo to Burslem

July 22, 2016 ronniecruwys 2 Comments

Wedgwood Institute Cruwys — *Some of the intricate work above the entrance to the Wedgwood Institute, Burslem*

Hello again! It’s been a while since I wrote but I’m into the last few months preparation for my final show for the icon diploma I’ve been working towards the last three years. All 12 icon students will have their work on show at the Prince’s Drawing School in Shoreditch, in 18-21 October.

There’s still plenty of drawing going on alongside and I thought you might be interested to see some work in progress pics of an elaborate doorway in Burslem, the main entrance to the extraordinarily beautiful Wedgwood Institute, here in Staffordshire.

Pencil drawing on watercolour paper with ochre wash — *First light washes of English and French ochres*

Quoting from its website, the Wedgwood Institute is a ‘Mid-19th century site with important artistic detail, built by public funds for adult education’. It has been included on the English Heritage list of Buildings at Risk and in 2010 named as one of the top 10 most endangered Victorian buildings. However, its future is looking much more secure now that the Prince’s Regeneration Trust and the Burslem Regeneration Company have made a commitment to its long term restoration.

Back to the drawing. One of the things we’ve learnt on the icon course is how to make our own colour from minerals. I couldn’t resist using the minerals which I’d ground up for icons on this drawing as I’d bought the raw minerals from the Burslem Lapidary Shop, just around the corner from the Wedgwood Institute.

Grinding malachite

Azurite

Crushed azurite

crushed malachite

This is a fairly big drawing, approximately A1 size on a very smooth, heavy (500gsm) watercolour paper. I sized the paper with a light wash of English Ochre pigment and gum arabic, then used French Ochre Havanna to build up the brick colour. I’ve gone for a softer drawing in pencil as I’m hoping to portray the intricate workmanship without it looking too heavy.

pencil drawing and ochre wash of the Wedgwood Institute — *Using a mix of ochres for the brick and stonework.*

There are tiles laid in a basket weave patterns, in terracotta, buff and a bright green which immediately made me think of using the ‘Burslem malachite’ with a little azurite, even though it’s actually mined in the Congo!

pencil drawing of the entrance to the Wedgwood Institute — Green, terracotta and buff tiles above the Wedgwood Institute, Burslem

Hope to post more as the rest progresses.

Thanks for reading!

Ronnie

Architectural Drawing, Audlem, Pen and ink drawing, Williams of Audlem

Three Sides of a Triangular Square

May 22, 2016 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

Long view The Square Audlem — *From the Lord Combermere to The Crown Mews*

The ink has just dried on The Square, the third drawing in the Audlem series. The Square is in fact more of a triangle which is formed around the T junction between the Nantwich Road (A529) and the A525 (Stafford and Shropshire St). This is the oldest part of the village and its heart. You can read more about the history of the village on Audlem Online

Looking back two years, the first drawing (seen below) stretched from the Post Office to the Methodist Church.

Smith York Printer Audlem Drawing Cruwys — *Simon getting colour matches against the original drawing on the first round of limited edition prints (Smith York Printers, Ironbridge)*

You can just see the southern side of ‘The Square’ in the middle.

The Square Ronnie Cruwys 1.jpg — *‘The Square’ from the first Audlem drawing*

A year later and Cheshire Street appeared. This shows the ribbon of buildings lining the side of the A529 from the edge of St James’s Church up to No 17.

Cheshire Street and Stafford st — *Cheshire St (work in progress) seen below the first street drawing.*

Now I can share the latest drawing which although relatively short, contains the third side of the Square.

The Square Audlem Ronnie Cruwys 1.jpg — *The latest drawing seen in full*

The Lord Combermere.jpg

1 and 2 The Square Audlem.jpg Crown Mews The Square Audlem.jpg My thanks again to Judy of ‘Williams of Audlem’ who is stocking signed limited edition prints of the drawing. I’m only doing a very small print run of 20 from this drawing, available to order in one size 500mm x 200mm. Unframed prints are £54 each.

There are two framed prints in stock at Williams, one in matt black and the other in mahogany, for £125. If you are in Audlem for the festival over the Bank Holiday, call in and have a look – all prints can be seen together as a set. If you can’t get to Williams and would like to buy any of the Audlem series, drop me an email (RonnieCruwys@drawingthstreet.co.uk).

Have a good week and thanks for reading.

Ronnie

Architectural Drawing, Building conservation, Pen and ink drawing

Fetch a bucket – quick!

May 12, 2016 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

This is a flashback to a drawing I did last year following a wintery visit to the walled gardens at Keele. I was slowed down at the time by a few fractures but wanted to record the bothies as soon as I first saw them.

This is just a drawing post today – so hope you enjoy the sketches, all done with Dr Martin’s Bombay waterproof ink, three colours, sepia, terracotta and teal.

1 Keele Bothies Cruwys crop1 Pen and ink drawing of Bothies at keele

4 Keele Bothies.jpg

5 Keele Bothies To see the drawing in full, please visit my website Drawing the Street

Thanks for reading!

Ronnie

Architectural Drawing, Eccleshall Architecture, Gallery at 12, Pen and ink drawing

&Buttons and Flowers

April 24, 2016 ronniecruwys 3 Comments

So here we have the finished drawing of 32 to 56 High Street, Eccleshall, complete with guest appearances by local residents. This has been great fun to include you all and I hope you can still recognise yourselves…

buildings on high Street Eccleshall — *Next along Eccleshall High Street*

Drawing of Sean Hirst Flowers Eccleshall Staffordshire — *“Sean Hirst Flowers” and “&Buttons”, Eccleshall High St.*

man walking dog in drawing of Eccleshall — *Walking the dog*

Caroline on the High Street — *Calling the shots*

pen and ink drawing with gallery at 12 member — *Staffordshire Artist picking up texts after a Gallery meeting*

Eccleshall high Street artwork — *Valentines, Eccleshall*

Greetings cards are now in stock at Gallery at 12 in Eccleshall of this latest drawing. Prints also available to order and you can see the drawing in full over on my website:Drawing the Street.

Thanks for joining me!

Ronnie

Architectural Drawing, Burslem conservation, Burslem Heritage

Palladian and Diocletian to go please?

March 6, 2016 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

36 to 52 Market Place Burslem, — Market Place, Burslem

KFC on Market Place Burslem must be proud of its Palladian and Diocletian windows. The description in the listing needs an architectual dictionary to translate but these 18th century windows must have been pretty well built to have survived this far and they have fared better than the kilns which once stood behind the building.

pen ink and egg tempera wash architectural drawings — India Cottage, the New Inn (c1832) and Ideal Homes, Market Place, Burslem

drawings of Market Place Burslem — Pearl Assurance House, John Keenan, Hog Noggin and KFC

This is only a short drawing but this part of Market Street frames the northern side of Fountain Place and lies quite close to St John’s Square. It could be quite easily overlooked but there are two listed grade 2 buildings at one end – Hog Noggin and KFC.

There are some interesting old Potteries photos which show how close this street was to the factory and kiln which once stood behind. I would love to hear any insights into the history of these buildings. Please do get in touch and I will share it on the archive blog (Drawing the Detail).

KFC Hog Noggin John Keenan and KFC — Hog Noggin and KFC both 18th century and listed grade 2

John Keenan crop — John Keenan’s office, chartered surveyor.

Thanks for reading.

Ronnie

Architectural Drawing, Burslem Heritage

A nasty old Square for Bears

February 4, 2016 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

St Johns west edit small crop — St John’s Square, Burslem

Bear-baiting, bull-baiting and cock-fighting were once popular sports in St John’s Square, Burslem, shown above, fresh off my drawing board. Residents of perhaps one or two of these buildings would have had a prime view on a Sunday morning, when these activities were likely to happen. All banned by law in 1837, thank goodness.

Market Place south Jpeg smaller file — *Little clues of the past remaining on the walls of Market Passage, Burslem, just around the corner.*

Interesting clues of what went on remain in place and pub names though.

There’s a great old photo of the square which predates the arrival of the red brick building above ‘New Era’ Barbers shop, with the gable and brickwork bearing the date 1884.

St Johns west edit 1 crop 2b

It looks like a thatched cottage stood here before this building

Thanks to the sharing of local history and photographs by Burlem enthusiasts in Facebook groups ‘Middleport Memories‘ and ‘Our Burslem‘, this intriguing photo from a book ‘Images of England Burslem, shows what still remains.

12471864_10153845891189841_5422688558101704738_o — From the book ‘Images of England – Burslem’ (see link above

I love discovering little bits of our history and thank you Geoff Barnett, for introducing me to the world of Burslem. Before I sign off, I was chatting about this drawing to Terry Hunt in Jollies Art Shop, Newcastle-under-Lyme. It turns out he was once the landlord of the Duke William!

So this post is for Geoff and for Terry.

St Johns west edit small Duke William

And here’s Terry outside his shop on Liverpool Road. Good to see that my drawings have got a bit more colourful over the last couple of years.

Jollies Terry Hunt — Terry, former landlord of ‘*Duke William*‘, outside Jollies Art shop, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Thanks for reading!

Ronnie

drawing out the best in our streets