Latest news with #Mark1
The Age
02-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Adam wanted a funky mid-century Sydney home. All he paid was stamp duty
More than 50 years ago, the company's founders warned that those who bought their houses often had random strangers and passing motorists stopping to ask if their homes were for sale. That's pretty much what Adam Stewart did about 20 years ago. Like the 2100 active fans on a Facebook page for owners and friends, many of those Stewart visited were deep in the 1960s and '70s groove. One owner had 'jazz by Miles Davis blaring' and welcomed him into a home lit with original bright-coloured Planet lamps, with price tags still on. It would take a few more Sunday night visits before the Stewarts got lucky and spotted a P+S split-level – a sought-after Mark 1, Model F, circa 1970 by architect Ken Woolley – the original owner had bought off the plan. The owner was recently widowed and looking to downsize, and asked Stewart about his townhouse. When Stewart replied that his home required no maintenance, the man suggested a swap. He gave the Stewarts a long list of itemised repair jobs, with estimated costs, that needed to be done. No money changed hands, though the Stewarts paid the man's stamp duty. Kathryn Franco, a former Lowline owner, is writing a book on the company's history featuring surviving homes, including the Stewarts'. 'The cursory paragraph in architecture books just doesn't do justice to the history and enjoyment we all derive from P+S' legacy,' she wrote on the Facebook page. Franco said the company had been focused on bringing architect-designed housing to young professionals and the middle classes: 'Even then, having an architect design your house was beyond the reach of most people.' She estimates 500 of the 3500 P+S houses built have been demolished. That includes the Wahroonga home where Colin Sevitt, son of Ron, grew up. It was bulldozed to make way for a much larger home. Colin Sevitt said his father's company made project homes affordable and attractive by identifying and recruiting young, talented architects who would go on to win awards. Another innovation was its Mad Men -style advertising by Rogers Holland and Everingham, featuring banter between the two owners, that generated so much interest in its display homes that traffic jams were reported in 1962 and 1964. The first two models were by Ken Woolley and Michael Dysart, influential architects of the era who also worked in the NSW Government Architects Branch. Loading The original Split Level and Lowline models were sold from 1962. Over the next 17 years, Woolley designed 18 models plus multiple versions of the Split Level Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, and several versions of the Lowline and a Courtyard house. Architects Harry Seidler, Russell Jack and Neil Clerehan designed some later models. After visiting Stewart's home, Sevitt said his father would have been proud and heartened to see the resurgence in interest in mid-century modernism since his death in 1997. 'It's a wonderful thing,' he said. When the company began, Pettit+Sevitt said in a perfect world every Australian family would live in an architect-designed home tailored to their needs. To come close to the ideal, Sevitt said: 'The architects would have meetings, one-on-one with the customer, so they were able to vary the standard designs to a point.' Over time, the homes had 'become valuable to people who appreciate good design and mid-century modernism', he said. That's true of the Stewarts. Their home showcases the mid-century modern and Danish furniture Adam's company, Modanest, makes and restores. Like the P+S models of the past, the NSW government is putting together a pattern book of designs by architects that would get fast-track approval.
Sydney Morning Herald
02-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Adam wanted a funky mid-century Sydney home. All he paid was stamp duty
More than 50 years ago, the company's founders warned that those who bought their houses often had random strangers and passing motorists stopping to ask if their homes were for sale. That's pretty much what Adam Stewart did about 20 years ago. Like the 2100 active fans on a Facebook page for owners and friends, many of those Stewart visited were deep in the 1960s and '70s groove. One owner had 'jazz by Miles Davis blaring' and welcomed him into a home lit with original bright-coloured Planet lamps, with price tags still on. It would take a few more Sunday night visits before the Stewarts got lucky and spotted a P+S split-level – a sought-after Mark 1, Model F, circa 1970 by architect Ken Woolley – the original owner had bought off the plan. The owner was recently widowed and looking to downsize, and asked Stewart about his townhouse. When Stewart replied that his home required no maintenance, the man suggested a swap. He gave the Stewarts a long list of itemised repair jobs, with estimated costs, that needed to be done. No money changed hands, though the Stewarts paid the man's stamp duty. Kathryn Franco, a former Lowline owner, is writing a book on the company's history featuring surviving homes, including the Stewarts'. 'The cursory paragraph in architecture books just doesn't do justice to the history and enjoyment we all derive from P+S' legacy,' she wrote on the Facebook page. Franco said the company had been focused on bringing architect-designed housing to young professionals and the middle classes: 'Even then, having an architect design your house was beyond the reach of most people.' She estimates 500 of the 3500 P+S houses built have been demolished. That includes the Wahroonga home where Colin Sevitt, son of Ron, grew up. It was bulldozed to make way for a much larger home. Colin Sevitt said his father's company made project homes affordable and attractive by identifying and recruiting young, talented architects who would go on to win awards. Another innovation was its Mad Men -style advertising by Rogers Holland and Everingham, featuring banter between the two owners, that generated so much interest in its display homes that traffic jams were reported in 1962 and 1964. The first two models were by Ken Woolley and Michael Dysart, influential architects of the era who also worked in the NSW Government Architects Branch. Loading The original Split Level and Lowline models were sold from 1962. Over the next 17 years, Woolley designed 18 models plus multiple versions of the Split Level Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, and several versions of the Lowline and a Courtyard house. Architects Harry Seidler, Russell Jack and Neil Clerehan designed some later models. After visiting Stewart's home, Sevitt said his father would have been proud and heartened to see the resurgence in interest in mid-century modernism since his death in 1997. 'It's a wonderful thing,' he said. When the company began, Pettit+Sevitt said in a perfect world every Australian family would live in an architect-designed home tailored to their needs. To come close to the ideal, Sevitt said: 'The architects would have meetings, one-on-one with the customer, so they were able to vary the standard designs to a point.' Over time, the homes had 'become valuable to people who appreciate good design and mid-century modernism', he said. That's true of the Stewarts. Their home showcases the mid-century modern and Danish furniture Adam's company, Modanest, makes and restores. Like the P+S models of the past, the NSW government is putting together a pattern book of designs by architects that would get fast-track approval.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
"Happy Anniversary, Dearest Suchi': Mohanlal celebrates 37 years of marriage
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook) Superstar Mohanlal celebrated 37 years of love and togetherness with his wife, Suchitra , in a heartwarming Instagram post. The actor shared a touching picture of the couple, where he lovingly gave his wife a sweet kiss on the cheek while she smiled in delight. "Happy Anniversary, Dearest Suchi.' Along with the pic, Mohanlal expressed his gratitude and affection for Suchitra with a heartfelt caption: "Happy Anniversary, Dearest Suchi. Forever grateful for you, forever yours." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Secure Your Child's Future with Strong English Fluency Planet Spark Learn More Undo Netizens share heartwarming reactions. The 'Thudarum' actor's post was soon flooded with comments. One comment read, 'ലാലേട്ടനും സുചിത്രചേച്ചിക്കും happy wedding anniversary.' Another comment took reference from ' Thudarum ,' as it read, 'തുടരും.... തുടർന്നുകൊണ്ടേയിരിക്കട്ടെ….' A third one wrote, 'Happy Anniversary Laletta & Suchitra Chechi.' 'Thudarum' success post Mohanlal recently expressed his gratitude for the love and appreciation received for his film Thudarum. On April 25, he shared, X: 'I'm deeply moved and truly humbled by the love and heartfelt response for #Thudarum. Each message and every word of appreciation has touched me in ways I can't fully express.' He continued, 'Thank you for opening your hearts to this story, for seeing its soul, and for embracing it with such grace.' Directed by Tharun Moorthy, Thudarum is a crime thriller starring Mohanlal, Shobhana, and several other talented actors. Prakash Varma's antagonist role in the film is getting much positive reviews from the audience. The ETimes review for the movie reads, 'Thudarum has the same-ish mood of Drishyam, with a father—and Mohanlal, at that—trying to protect his family, but Tharun Moorthy's revenge drama lacks any of the cleverness of the Jeetu Joseph film. Taxi driver Shanmugham (Mohanlal), known as Benz among family and friends, is a former film stunt assistant and a loving family man whose adoration for his Mark 1 Ambassador is well-known. In fact, misusing his car once is the only reason for him to get angry with his son, Pavi, in an incident that spirals into an emotional storyline in the revenge drama.'
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Contractor Allegedly Tried To Bribe An Extra $52 Million Out Of Amtrak With A Purebred Puppy And Luxury Watches
Built during the early 1930s, Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is one of the country's final railroad temples and still serves millions of passengers today as Amtrak's third-busiest station. The federally-owned railroad awarded a $58 million contract in 2015 to Mark 1 Restoration to clean the station's monumental limestone facade and restore its windows. A federal lawsuit filed last week alleges that Mark Snedden, the company's owner, heaved lavish gifts at an Amtrak official for an additional $52 million in change orders, skyrocketing the deal's value to over $100 million. The value of the gifts provided to Amtrak's project manager exceeded $325,000, according to the Engineering News-Record. The list of claimed bribes from Snedden and three Mark 1 vice presidents includes classics like over $7,000 in cash, cash, jewelry and expensive dinners, as well as a $4,700 purebred German Shepherd puppy and all-expenses-paid vacations to Ecuador and India. The filing claims that the Amtrak employee was able to upgrade a few of the gifts. After being given a $5,600 Tourneau watch, the project manager wanted a different timepiece and returned the Tourneau for an $11,000 watch. Read more: These Should Be The Next Mail Trucks When The Post Office Gets Privatized Snedden is slated to be arraigned on federal bribery and false claims charges at the end of the month. The three Mark 1 vice presidents have already pleaded guilty to a single count of federal bribery each and are awaiting sentencing. Although the Amtrak project manager isn't named in the lawsuit, the project manager was identified as Ajith Bhaskaran. He was charged with wire fraud in September 2020 for allegedly defrauding the Social Security Administration but died of a heart attack a month later at home while negotiating a plea deal. While the Trump administration continues to let Elon Musk and his unqualified DOGE lackeys run rampant through the federal government, they should be tackling cases of real government waste like this. The 30th Street Station restoration was 90% funded by federal taxpayers. Contractors, like SpaceX, are willing to do anything to milk the federal budget. Last year, the Pentagon discovered that Boeing overcharged the Air Force by nearly 8,000% on spare soap dispensers on the C-17 Globemaster. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Telegraph
02-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
The dangerous slam-door trains being given a surprising new lease of life
Young people may not believe that we once hung out of train windows in order to open the door, rather than simply pressing a button. Nor will they recognise that distinctive slam as the conductor went up and down the platform, preparing the train for a safe departure. They were a symbol of British culture and heritage, but in 2005, the slam-door train was deemed not fit for purpose. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the final unmodified slam-door train being removed from service on Britain's railways under new Railway Safety Regulations, introduced to prevent needless deaths caused by opening doors while trains were in motion. Only on a few branch lines did some carriages remain. The design was demonstrably unsafe: in 1961, for example, six people were killed entering or alighting from a train, and 16 falling out of a carriage. There were thousands of injuries each year, and the single carriages which could be accessed only by an external door were deemed dangerous for women. While the number of fatalities dropped dramatically when the final slam-door train left the line, it felt like the end of an era. Carriages brimming with class and character were scrapped, their like never to be seen again on our mainline railways. We're used to seeing redundant red phone boxes repurposed as community libraries or housing defibrillators. However, the logistics and finances involved in obtaining and restoring a train carriage pose more of a challenge – especially as many were riddled with asbestos. Yet some survived and these relics have been transformed into everything from educational facilities to luxury holiday lets. But what does it take, financially, logistically and physically, to find and restore an old carriage? Here we look at some of the people who rescued these remnants of the golden age of the train. The High Weald holiday let When Bryan Atkins decided, in 2017, to fulfil a long-held ambition to restore an old train carriage, some nay-sayers unkindly referred to it as the 'Tom Cruise project', in that it was Mission: Impossible. Undeterred, the retired teacher found a 1950s Mark 1 carriage at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway. He says: 'They're as rare as hens' teeth now, and they command a huge price. A runner [a working carriage] costs upwards of £50,000 and to get a non-runner is so unusual because most of the preserved railways have already bought them up. I was lucky.' Bryan paid £15,000, which included transporting the carriage more than 160 miles from the Cotswolds to a field near Wittersham, Kent. Converted for Balfour Beatty, an international infrastructure group, into a mess coach and part of a weed-killing train in the late 1990s, the interior was a tangle of redundant pipework and electric cables, part of the floor was missing and there were large holes left from ventilator flues. 'I spent about 12 months stripping it out, patching and welding it. I would have probably made my money back just by weighing it into the scrapyard,' Bryan recalls. Over the following years, Bryan and four volunteers worked on the carriage under a giant homemade tent, grit-blasting the exterior and applying layer upon layer of paint and varnish. Several laborious months were spent just replacing the 23 windows, which were an odd assortment of sizes and specifications. In June 2021, the carriage was moved across the Sussex border to its new home at Bodiam, in the shadow of the castle, surrounded by vineyards, next to the Kent and East Sussex Railway (KESR). Renamed the Bodiam Glamping Coach, the carriage is now luxury holiday accommodation. Ultimately, the plan is for KESR to buy out shareholders who invested £60,000 in the project and use the income to keep the steam railway running for future generations. As for Bryan, he is 'having a ball' as an unofficial High Weald tour guide. 'I love meeting people, offering advice on where to visit,' he says. 'Sometimes I have a drink with the guests before they leave and listen to what they've done during their time here. 'By and large, they've thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I get quite a kick out of that.' The school library in Derby Many pupils at Ivy House School had never been on a train or seen one up close before. So there was much excitement when they arrived at school one Monday morning last June to find a carriage waiting for them. Ian Armstrong, the executive headteacher for Shaw Education Trust, found the carriage, once used for ferrying parcels and passengers at Nemesis Rail, a railway maintenance and spot-hire company. Delivered on a flatbed truck under police escort, work began on the carriage in earnest, but ground to a shuddering halt when asbestos was discovered in the floor. Once it was safely removed, the team set about making the carriage as comfortable as possible for pupils. Ian says: 'We wanted it to be usable all year round, so we went to town to make sure it had really good insulation. We put two air con units in so we could set the temperature. We dug channels under the ground to get all the wiring and cabling from the school so we could have electricity running to it. It was a logistical challenge in terms of work to be done to get it up to a usable state.' The new library was kitted out with high-tech colour-changing lights and a television screen, while keeping some original seats and various buttons and dials, maintaining some of the carriage's original charm. The doors had to be modified to ensure step-free access, eliminating the gap so wheelchair users could enjoy the new Ivy House Express. The project cost around £150,000, but by freeing up space within the building, the school was able to accommodate more students. The increase in student numbers enabled the school to quickly recover the investment made. However, for the children of Ivy House, their new library is priceless. 'When the students arrive, they get excited because they want to go on the train and read – that's pretty awesome, isn't it?' smiles Ian. An artists' cafe on the Sussex coast A dilapidated carriage, rotting on a military shooting range in Essex, caught the eye of property developer Richard Upton, whose company, Cathedral, transformed it into the darling of Deptford. Tasked by Lewisham Council with regenerating Deptford High Street in the face of the 2009 financial crisis, Richard bought the 1960s commuter train carriage and converted it into a community cafe. With the help of artist Morag Myerscough and local community activist Rebecca Molina, the characterful cafe connected people and kick-started the regeneration process. It even caught the attention of the New York Times. When the carriage was no longer required, it was removed and spent the next decade in storage in Greenwich. Richard says: 'I kept the carriage because it just had a bit of my heart. It bridged the gap in the financial crisis in terms of elegant growth, rather than gentrification. There was a bit of soul in it. 'Every time I visited the site in Greenwich it kept winking at me, saying: 'What are you going to do with me?'' In 2024, Richard found the perfect location for the carriage. Working with artist Ben Wood, he acquired The Old Ambulance Station in Bexhill-on-Sea, converting the paramedic rest-stop into community artist workshop spaces with affordable rents. The building sits on Beeching Road – named for Dr Beeching, who axed many rail routes in the 1960s – in the shadow of the former Bexhill West station. 'It was a tragic, short-sighted decimation of very expensive English infrastructure, where we cut off all peripheral towns and villages. Mr Beeching did us all a great disservice,' says Richard. Speaking about the logistics of such a project, he adds: 'It's not a very sensible thing to do, lift and transport a 60-tonne train around by lorry. Planning authorities don't always like to give permission because they don't understand why you're doing it. But once there, they reveal things of industrial heritage that are actually quite loved.' Now trading as The Carriage, a café intended as a place for artists to exchange ideas, the new venture has proved just as popular with builders as it has with school-run parents. Once established, profits will be reinvested into The Old Ambulance Station to drive down rents to artists further. 'It gives a sense of childish joy,' says Richard. 'When you look at that, you get a sense of hope, and that's what art should be about.' Helping men's mental health in Devon Finding a suitable venue for a new club when living in a village can be a bit of a tall order. Particularly if that club comes with a plethora of power tools and a weighty wood lathe. Braunton Community Men's Shed was running out of options when someone suggested converting an old train carriage into a workshop. The parish council offered space in its car park, formerly a railway goods yard before Beeching wielded his axe, and a 62-foot 1970s carriage was donated to the cause. Initially, it looked as if everything was going full steam ahead. 'We started work, but it was so rusty,' recalls Roger Byrom, Braunton Community Men's Shed chairman. 'Because it was a steam carriage [where the boiler had been located], all the metal was heating up and cooling down all the time, and the ribs were all rusted right out. We ended up scrapping it.' The team salvaged the windows before volunteers resumed their search, spending hours scouring the railway lines and scrapyards of southwest England. 'In the end, we found the frame of an old goods carriage in Somerset that someone wanted to use for a glamping site, but couldn't get planning,' says Roger. 'It was literally just a frame, with no sides, nothing.' Two tube wagons were found at Swanage Heritage Railway to sit the frame on. The project was funded by £26,000 in grants, but generous businesses offered their services for free, including haulage and storage containers, while the public donated tools. After 18 months of work, the woodwork shop officially opened in October 2024. The team has acquired a second frame, this time from Yorkshire, and work is underway to transform it into an electronics engineering workshop. 'We're getting retired folk out of just sitting at home doing nothing,' says Roger. 'Some people come in for a chat, some just want to learn a new skill, others because they have nothing better to do. It doesn't matter. They can all find something good in it and that's what Men's Sheds is all about.'
