Cornwall House, High St, Slough

 

A distinctive little octagonal oddity at the end of the High Street. It was built in the early 80s and still displays that period’s penchant for tinted windows. It’s a quirky arrangement of set-back floors arranged in octagonal blocks, all built in a concrete frame, and provides a visual complement to the mildly Brutalist Slough Library building next door. From certain angles the windows reflect other parts of itself, providing a kind of hall-of-mirrors effect that enhances its visual complexity at no extra building cost!

After years as an office it is now being bafflingly redeveloped for residential flats. I worry about who will end up living here, as it’s situated on a thin wedge of land between the continuation of the High Street and the frenetically busy Bath Road– you can see in the pictures how the traffic converges around it. You could put up with this as a workplace– it’s centrally located, easy to get to, and you won’t be spending the night– but as residential accommodation it would be far from ideal. Nothing like the dawn chorus of rush hour to greet you in the morning! Also, in terms of air quality, any location on this part of the Bath Road must fall somewhere between the sulphurous fumes of Hades and Eric Cartman’s farts. Perhaps not the best place for flats?