Roadside rescue
Architects Harris McCormack are breathing new life into an iconic Art Deco building beside the A1.Lucy Banwell went along for a look...
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NYONE accustomed to the drive north on the A1 will be familiar with the abandoned, graffiti-strewn former Little Chef building at Wansford. Empty since the fast food chain shipped out in 2007, the Art Deco building has been the subject of a covert restoration project since it was acquired by architects Harris McCormack in 2013. Previously based in cramped offices in Stamford, directors Simon Harris and William McCormack realised that the huge 1930s building would not only give them the scope to grow their architectural practice, but it could also provide a brilliant showcase for their services. “When the ‘For Sale’ sign went up, Simon and I realised we were looking at an amazing opportunity,” says Director, William McCormack. “Everybody said we were completely mad to buy it because there was water pouring through the roof and it was a real mess inside, but we could see past all that. That’s what we do. We could see that it was a fantastic space and we fell in love with it.” Harris McCormack successfully purchased the land alongside the
building as well, and once they had achieved outline planning permission the land was sold to Tall House Property Development who are in the process of putting up nine complementary Art Deco-style dwellings on the site. Then began the ‘inside out’ development of Harris McCormack’s new headquarters. Keen to get their spacious new offices up and running as soon as possible, the decision was made to make the first floor habitable prior to completing the externals of the building. This means that although the building still looks scruffy and unloved from the road, inside one finds a shiny new architects’ office complete with a zinc-clad extension ‘pod’ which now serves as Harris McCormack’s meeting room. “This is an iconic building with real architectural merit but we wanted to put our own spin on it,” says William. A modern lighting well and a bridge-like walkway have also been added, but in all other respects Harris McCormack’s vision was to take the building back to its 1930s origins. “For security purposes we wanted it to look unoccupied, so it’s always
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Ken Mehmed of Peterborough Civic Society charts the history of the ‘refreshing’ roadhouse
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RAVELLERS cannot fail to be intrigued by this iconic building at the side of the northbound carriageway of the A1 as it crosses the River Nene. The original Bauhaus design of the building would have made it an architectural rarity then and now – and undoubtedly a Listed building had it not been for destructive front extension and modernisation made to the largest of the curved corner windows in modern times. The building opened for business in 1932 as The Wansford Knight, the fifth roadhouse of the ‘Knights on the Road’ chain. An article in a 1933 issue of The Motor Magazine provides a delightful period description…
“These roadhouses are of interest to every longdistance motorist, for the man who wants a large or light meal quickly and in comfort too. Ordinary hotels are institutions where things have to be done according to the clock, but the roadhouses are completely adaptable. “The six roadhouses [the Wansford Knight turned out to be the final one to be built] are on important arterial roads. They stand up well and are softly floodlit, and half a mile away one has an impression of neatness and cleanliness which is never lost. The combination of white concrete and green paint has a practical and refreshing effect.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
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