VANISHING LANDMARK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

VANISHING LANDMARK

PAIR OF GIANT CHIMNEYS A London landmark —some called it an eyesore—is disappearing with the demolition of a pair of high chimneystacks which used to disturb the skyline east of Regent Street. The chimney belongs to the St. James' and Pall Mall Electric Light Company, and the engineer has hcen faced with the delicate task of pulling down the 205 ft. giants without letting a single brick drop on the buildings which crowd round them. The foreman in charge of the work stated that safety is ensured by loosening each brick and dropping it down the middle of the chimney, from the foot of which the bricks are carted away. Four men with picks have been gradually lowering themselves in this way since last August and in December they had months of work still ahead. One stack had disappeared and 90ft. of the other had gone. Only a jagged stump remained to offend the stargazer. When it was suggested to the foreman that some people had regarded the pair of chimneys as an eyesore, he glanced upward with a gleam of professional pride and said: " I don't know how they could say that; they were a pretty pair of stacks." The chimneys, built about 30 years ago, havo been out of use for some time.