A wonder house - in an ordinary place

This ‘Gothick’-style wonder of a house is Speedwell Castle, which is slap-bang in the middle of Brewood on the main crossroads.
It’s said that, around 1750, a local man won such an outrageous bet (that he had placed on a horse called Speedwell) that he was able to fund this building project with the winnings.

The story seems odd to me. 
Why did he build right on top of the crossroads (unless it was an extension to an existing house, I suppose)? 
The fact is that: two rather uninteresting pubs face the house; the frontage is right on to the road (ie a very less than grand entrance); and the posh end of Brewood is actually 200 yards away (near the church). 
I wonder if the man, an apothecary by the name of William Rock, just wanted to impress his immediate neighbours, and used his sudden rise in fortune to publicise his rise in fortune - in an unmissable spot?  In other words, a self-aggrandising vanity project?  I wonder.

It’s now converted into flats.

Crystal no longer shines bright

How the mighty are fallen.  This sad-looking, decaying pile is the once honey-pot of North Staffordshire, the Crystal Ballroom (aka Tiffany's aka Zanzibar etc etc).  It was the big dance and disco venue between the 1970s and 2000s for this region.
It was never 'cool' - one went to the small clubs for any real atmosphere -, but it was incredibly popular.  Saturday night queues were so long they are the stuff of legend - sometimes stretching down into Newcastle town itself.
Now it's just an empty hulk.

Bizarre building

This very dramatic-looking building seems to be in the local paper constantly (for the wrong reasons).  Smithfield-One was started last year as the planned base for Stoke-on-Trent City Council, which is spending £55 million on this and the surrounding 'business district' in Hanley. However, plans have now changed and the new Central Library will be installed there, as will 'other stuff'.

So... the library's gain, I suppose.

The multi-coloured design on the cladding is said to be inspired by the work of the famous 1930s 'Bizarre'-style pottery-designer, Clarice Cliff, who was a local girl. I'm not sure she'd recognise the attribution, but I guess we all are entitled to our own interpretations.

Inspiration is Progress

The golden light of a sunset over the buildings at Staffordshire University still doesn't beautify them much...

The rather sinister-sounding slogan is to do with the new construction work going on on the site.

Astrological quirks!

It's a very odd thing: but there are some howlers of mistakes on the facade of the Wedgwood Institute in Burslem.  The frieze along the top shows the twelve signs of the zodiac - but the signs for Cancer and Aries are in the wrong places. 
As you can see here, Aries (15 April to 15 May) is hovering over March, which is all wrong.  (The man is gathering clams/crabs by the way, which is not entirely obvious...). 
Also, further along the facade, the June figure seems to be shearing a ram - whcih should surely be Aries ?

This buidling was a wonder of its time.    I wonder if they realised the mistake when it was unveiled; or did those who realise just stay shtum?

This quirk is featured in the locally-set novel, The Spyders of Burslem.

Penkridge's grand parish home

This very grand building, Haling Dene Centre, is the home of a parish council.  This surprised me, as most parish councils that I know can just about afford to rent out a village hall room for their monthly meetings, let alone run a rather portentous centre like this. 
What's more the parish council concerned - Penkridge - has bought the place outright (it's not on a lease) and the facilities there are used extensively by locals.  It even runs its own transport fleet!

Admittedly, Penkridge can safely be described as a large village, even a small town, but the whole set-up is still rather an impressive feat for a parish council - a body that is (essentially) the most ignored tier of local government...

Attractive decay

Dilapidated buildings seem to suit the countryside - as though they are simply part of the landscape.
The same buildings in the town would be seen as unpleasant examples of 'urban decay'.
Strange, that.