After my photo-shoot for the site, probably as a result of my reaching the end of my film, my photograph of this part of the city didn't come back from the developers. Lara Goeke, the host of 'Art Deco Architecture', has very kindly given me her permission to use a photograph she sent me by E-Mail of the same location, taken while she was staying in England to complete a course of study at DeMontfort University, Leicester.
You may wonder how on earth a picture of an underground public convenience gets onto a site like this. Well, sometime in the early 1990s The Spot was in a bad state of repair until an inspired piece of upgrading and renewal created an item of original Art Deco street furniture that clearly belonged quite comfortably in the 1990s. Fascinatingly enough, the structure is colloquially known as the 'Gun Emplacement'.
Unfortunately, as part of the Derby Cityscape 'Masterplan', this superstructure is to be demolished to make way for the new 'Derby Spike' - a grand total of THIRTEEN years after its construction!
The curved, 'Moderne' building just behind on the corner of Osmaston Road and London Road was designed by John Beckett in 1934 and is thankfully to be untouched by this new development. It was, as far as can be made out from old photographs, originally home to Easterns furniture store. On top of the London Road side pinnacle there was a square-shaped clock. Since it seems that the charming clock tower is on its way it would seem to be a reasonable suggestion to re-instate a clock along the lines of the original at the original place as a focal landmark for the area.

Current 'Derby Art Deco Audit' threat level: 'Gun Emplacement' - Imminent danger, 96 St. Peter's Street - Safe, John Beckett's building - Safe.

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