Regeneration Photo Blog – The first and second floor
By Carole Macqueen and Keith Greenough
The first and second floors of our Grade II listed halls are the areas most in need of repair and where I think we will see some of the biggest change. These floors were once the home of our Residential Volunteers but the rooms haven’t been occupied for many years.
The great news is that the regeneration will give us the room to bring residential volunteering back to Toynbee Hall, but more on that later. These floors will also house our digital archive, a place open to visitors who can search the issues, events and people of our history. The first floor will also provide an education room and office space, meaning that our staff can sit together for the first time.
Keith Greenough, Photographer
It was fascinating to visit the old rooms in the Grade II listed halls. They are in quite a state of disrepair but at the same time they have a rich patina offering clues about the nature of their past occupation and usage. Signs of the past, both large and small abound – the ‘Toynbee Another Galaxy’ decorations, the drinks optic in the dormer window of in the former kitchens and so on. These traces prompted me to imagine what life living as a residential volunteer in the old hall would have been like. It must have been fun! It is wonderful that the regeneration project will breath new life into these old spaces.
