Arundel Gate.

Photo by St BC (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Has there been anywhere in Sheffield changed more in spirit in the last decade than Arundel Gate? When I was little, it was a wide, impenetrable road with barely any buildings on it. To get from one side to the other, you had to risk your life sprinting between its barriers, or use one of a string of sinister underpasses. And, when you emerged on the other side, you still felt a million miles away from anywhere that was actually worth getting to.

Now it's a much narrower road with lots of buildings on it. In the process, it's developed more of an air of belonging in the hub of a major city centre and also lost its previous mood of limbo-esque desolation.

It still has its failings. The old Top Rank/Fiesta complex is still there and the buildings at the Castle Square end are less than impressive but, for me at least, it's a vast improvement on how it once was.

St Paul's Tower, Arundel Gate.

 Photo  © Copyright Neil Theasby
and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

At last! Because you the reader demanded it! It's that building!

It started out as the Conran Tower. Then it was, "City Lofts." Then it was St Paul's Tower. But, whatever you call it, you can't ignore it. At thirty two storeys, stuck atop a hill overlooking the railway station, it's Sheffield's tallest and most visible building.

And what an odd structure it is. When the sun hits it at the right angle - usually early in the morning - it can look golden, gleaming, optimistic and sparkling.

When the sun doesn't hit it from the right angle - or doesn't hit it at all - it can look suspiciously like a dull, brown utilitarian 1960s block of council flats.

I do love the way it totally dwarfs the mock Tudorness of the Howard in this shot. I can't help feeling they should add a thirty storey vertical extension to the Howard to bring it up to the same height and turn it into Sheffield's first mock Tudor skyscraper.

A quick Google for images of mock Tudor skyscrapers suggests to me that there're no mock Tudor skyscrapers anywhere on Earth. Given that there are mock Gothic and mock Classical skyscrapers, the lack of mock Tudors seems an egregious omission that we can only hope someone will one day put right.

Queen's Tower Lodge, East Bank Road.

Photo by Warofdreams [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Near Park Grange Road, Norfolk Park, stands one of Sheffield's most magically loopy buildings; Queen's Tower. It's a 19th Century imitation castle inspired by Mary Queen of Scots' stay at Manor Lodge. But, further down the slope, on East Bank Road, is this baffling structure. I've never been sure if it's part of the same complex as Queen's Tower or if its proximity to the site is pure coincidence.

Anyway, its page on Wikimedia Commons labels it as, "Queen's Tower Lodge," so I'll assume that's what it is.

The rest of the Queen's Tower site is nowadays a gated apartment complex but what function does this particular building currently serve? I don't know. Occasionally, when you go past, you can spot a bare, lit bulb through one of the windows, suggesting some kind of activity within. But as to what goes on in there, we  passers-by can only guess.

Velocity Tower.

Velocity Tower photo © Copyright Graham Hogg
and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Hooray! It's Velocity Tower, easily my favourite post-war building in the whole of Sheffield.

How could anyone not love all that floor-to-ceiling glass and that mix of ruler-straight lines and curves?

It is of course technically unfinished, as it's supposed to have an extra eight stories on top and there's supposed to be a second tower beside it but sadly the credit crunch threw a spanner into those particular works.

All we can do is hope that someday it finally gets fully completed and can be seen in all the glory it deserves.

St Paul's Square in the Snow.

Most of the pics on this blog will be culled from other sources but I took this one myself, back in February when the winter was biting so hard we started to wonder if it'd ever end.

To be honest, I was one of the few people who didn't mind the old Eggbox building that once stood here but I have to admit the new Peace Gardens are a gazillion miles better than the old ones. And the new office blocks, hotel and walloping big skyscraper of St Paul's Tower do lend a much bigger city feel to the area. Squint really hard and you could convince yourself you're looking at the Canary Wharf of South Yorkshire.