# The old Oysterhouse Lighthouse, Kings Cross



## editor (Oct 25, 2007)

I love this old building right by Kings Cross station:















More pics and feature: http://www.urban75.org/london/oyster-bar-kings-cross.html


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## marty21 (Oct 25, 2007)

it's a great landmark, they are keeping it aren't they? there's a lot of demolition going on there atm


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## bluestreak (Oct 25, 2007)

You know, I'd never noticed the skyline just there before.  Cheers dude!


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## ska invita (Oct 26, 2007)

marty21 said:
			
		

> it's a great landmark, they are keeping it aren't they? there's a lot of demolition going on there atm


Yes, the building is listed - the reason it has been boarded up for so long is that it is a nightmare to redevelop - partly cos the busy junction makes it hard for works traffic to come in, and also becuase of the need to keep the original appearance.

The redvelopment of the area is fascinating, with lots of thorny issues - check out this if you're interested in the area:
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=226983


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## Kenny Vermouth (Oct 26, 2007)

editor said:
			
		

> I love this old building right by Kings Cross station:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Why does some cunt have to scrawl his name on it?


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## poster342002 (Oct 26, 2007)

Kenny Vermouth said:
			
		

> Why does some cunt have to scrawl his name on it?


Like with most taggers, it was probably the only way for them to remember what it is.


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## lights.out.london (Oct 26, 2007)

Back in the day - the police used the wee tower to take photos of crack and dealers in the Cross before they busted them.


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## poster342002 (Oct 26, 2007)

On a serious note, I wonder if there was ever any lighthouse equipment in the structure? Maybe way back in the day it could have been some sort of novelty urban lighthouse complete with light?

I also note the interesting speculation that it may have been a known fast-food symbol of it's day (for oysters). Possible, I guess, although I have to wonder why no others of it's kind seem to remain or are known of? Is there any record of these structures having once been commonplace?

A very curious oddity, indeed.


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## poster342002 (Oct 26, 2007)

Another thought occurs - bear with me on this, because at first sight it sounds rather daft ...

Is it at all possible it was a lighthouse for the purpose of guiding boats into harbour? 

Stay with me on this! Apparently, there used to be a lot of small shipping water-inlets into central London which would link up with the main rivers and canals leading out to sea. I once heard that the current location of Victoira Station was once home to Victoria Shipping Basin, connecting to the Thames a short distance away in Battersea. Possibly just a myth, I'm not sure. I don't know the person who told me this, anymore.


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## maldwyn (Oct 26, 2007)

I had heard  there was once a similar type thing somewhere in Walthamstow, a spiritual beacon for lost souls, erected by some obscure religious cult.


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## Onket (Oct 26, 2007)

Kenny Vermouth said:
			
		

> Why does some cunt have to scrawl his name on it?



Because he scaled it?


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## davesgcr (Oct 27, 2007)

Looking forward to not crossing those death trap roads when the new Thameslink station opens.

Agreed it's a nice landmark building but a f###ing nightmare area for a pedestrian - though much improved in the last few years as a result of crime prevention activities.

Where have the lowlife gone to ....?


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## lights.out.london (Oct 27, 2007)

I moved to the OKR.


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## telbert (Oct 27, 2007)

London used to be full of oyster  houses  about a hundred years ago.The lighthouse on the roof was a beacon(n.p.i.) for those that wanted a cheap munch on the way home from work or the music hall, the same way the golden arches of McDonalds entice workers to a lunchtime dose of cholesterol or the picture of an elephants leg outside a kebab house pursuades drunks to eat shit in a tray at three quid a go.


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## ska invita (Oct 28, 2007)

The "beacon" is 99% a folly - sorry to dissapoint.


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## lang rabbie (Oct 28, 2007)

The history seems to be even more confusing...




			
				Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter - February 2000 said:
			
		

> To the south east of King's Cross main-line railway station on top of a narrow building, sometimes referred to as the flatiron building (probably with North American examples in mind), stands an architectural folly some people think of as a windmill or lighthouse. It has looked much as it does today since 1884 but its date of building and original purpose are unknown.
> 
> A recent excellent article by David Hayes in Camden History Review (Vol 23) attempts to unravel the mystery but comes to no definite conclusions. Apparently GLIAS visited the 'lighthouse' in 1984 but there is no reference to this in the index to the GLIAS newsletter. Does anyone remember taking part? The official view used to be that the 'lighthouse' was an advertising feature intended to promote Netten's oyster bar which was immediately beneath on the ground floor. This is now shown to be unlikely.



Anyone with Camden connection know where you get hold of a copy of the "Camden History Review" 


I love the suggestion that it was used as an observation point for Zeppelin raids during World War 1.  You can just imagine someone up on the leads with a telescope.


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## editor (Oct 28, 2007)

Thanks for the updates. I've added info from this thread to the article.


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## Sunray (Oct 29, 2007)

I never noticed it, noticed the building because its so run down, which is pretty rare in London these days.


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## goldenecitrone (Oct 29, 2007)

I spent a fair bit of time looking at it last week, having sort of been aware of its existence but never having paid it much attention. It is quite a weird sight so it's nice to find out some information on it. Cheers.


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## Cid (Oct 29, 2007)

lang rabbie said:
			
		

> The history seems to be even more confusing...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Archives, like any council... 




			
				Camden Council said:
			
		

> Camden local studies and archives centre
> Contact:
> Richard  Knight
> Local Studies and Archives Manager
> ...


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## poster342002 (Oct 30, 2007)

telbert said:
			
		

> London used to be full of oyster  houses  about a hundred years ago.The lighthouse on the roof was a beacon(n.p.i.) for those that wanted a cheap munch on the way home from work or the music hall


So how come there aren't any more of them left? It's really odd that there should only be one left standing and that they have faded from the collective popular memory so relatively quickly.


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## lang rabbie (Oct 31, 2007)

poster342002 said:
			
		

> So how come there aren't any more of them left? It's really odd that there should only be one left standing and that they have faded from the collective popular memory so relatively quickly.



We had this discussion on a previous London thread - a spate of poisonings due to sewage pollution of oyster beds around the turn of the twentieth century didn't help IIRC.

Oddly enough, I did a quick search through the John Gay photographs of Kings Cross and St Pancras (mostly taken to illustrate Betjeman's book on London's Historic Railway Stations) on the National Monuments Record Viewfinder picture database site to see if they included any photos of the Lighthouse building.  I drew a blank, but the collection includes some 1950s photos of working-class holidaymakers in Blackpool still visiting an oyster stall at that late date.


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## Sir Belchalot (Oct 31, 2007)

There's one in Markhouse Rd in Walthamstow, nothing to do with oysters though:

http://www.musicland26.freeserve.co.uk/walthamstow.htm#4


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## poster342002 (Oct 31, 2007)

Hmmm... maybe there was (or was _going_ to be, but never was in the end) a Methodist Church in Kings Cross?

I still wonder, if it _was_ a symbol for oysterhouses, how come the Kings Cross one is the only surviving example of it's kind? Surely there'd be at least one or two still left around here and there? Or clear records of them, at the very least?


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## editor (Oct 31, 2007)

Sir Belchalot said:
			
		

> There's one in Markhouse Rd in Walthamstow, nothing to do with oysters though:
> 
> http://www.musicland26.freeserve.co.uk/walthamstow.htm#4


Cool building!

I'm adding all this info to the article - thanks for helping make it the #1 resource on the building!


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## charlie mowbray (Nov 6, 2007)

See here
http://london.metblogs.com/archives/2006/10/the_oysterhouse.phtml
I read the Camden History review 23 and I seem to remember that the best theory advanced was that it was of religious significance, like the one in Walthamstow


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## atrebor89biro (Feb 21, 2011)

Hello,
I am a journalism student and I'm doing a project about this building. Does anyone know how it would be possible to get in it or contact the owner. Anything that would help me to dig into its history.
thank you already!
R


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Feb 21, 2011)

Are the mods up to no good?


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## lang rabbie (Feb 22, 2011)

atrebor89biro said:


> Hello,
> I am a journalism student and I'm doing a project about this building. Does anyone know how it would be possible to get in it or contact the owner. Anything that would help me to dig into its history.
> thank you already!
> R


 
Can I humbly suggest that learning how to search the relevant local authority planning applications database (free) and the Land Registry (£2 per document downloaded) would show more relevant journalistic research skills to the people assessing your course than making random requests on bulletin boards.


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## hipipol (Feb 23, 2011)

back in the 90s there was kebeb shop at the poointy end, mole jazz as jsut behind it
you could get a brown paper bag with a single hypo, some vit c, bit of cotton and a sterile wipe for 30p from the kebab place
very handy for the mass of the punters around there at the time


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## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 23, 2011)

bloke in my local pub used to work in mole jazz. he knows his jazz, put it that way.

eta: posts have gwan missing here


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Feb 23, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> bloke in my local pub used to work in mole jazz. he knows his jazz, put it that way.
> 
> eta: posts have gwan missing here


 
You may have made the same mistake I did and seen the other similar post (although Editor did delete this person's post)


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## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 23, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> You may have made the same mistake I did and seen the other similar post (although Editor did delete this person's post)


i don't make mistakes mtm, i make incisions into other people's consciousness 

but i blame editor too.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Feb 23, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i don't make mistakes mtm, i make incisions into other people's consciousness
> 
> but i blame editor too.



I do apologise.  So what posts have gone missing then?


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## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 23, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> I do apologise.  So what posts have gone missing then?


oh, i don't know.

i'm off to bed now.

i hope the house and the front door are here in the morning. i don't care cos i wrote a poem tonight


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## editor (Feb 23, 2011)

No posts have been deleted in this thread so I've no idea what you're on about. You may be getting confused because the new spam boy posted the same thing across several forums.


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## Onket (Feb 23, 2011)

Execpt it wasn't spam, the poster is simply asking a question, albiet several times. That's what you get if there is more than one thread though, I spose.


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## editor (Feb 23, 2011)

Onket said:


> Execpt it wasn't spam, the poster is simply asking a question, albiet several times. That's what you get if there is more than one thread though, I spose.


He asked the same FAQ-breaking question several times on* more than one thread* so some of the posts were deleted in line with our rules. If you have a problem with those rules, please start a thread in the feedback forum rather than dragging this thread off topic. Thanks.


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## Onket (Feb 23, 2011)

Threads in 'Feedback' generally get ignored by you, or you post a one word brush-off answer. So thanks for your advice, but I'm ok posting here.


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