Concrete first that crumbled
QUESTION Which was the first building in Britain to be constructed from reinforced concrete? The first use of iron-reinforced concrete was by French builder Francois Coignet at 72 rue Charles Michels in Paris in 1853.
Designed by Theodore Lachez, Coignet’s all-concrete house, completed in 1862 — its roofs and floors reinforced with small wrought-iron beams — still stands.
Reinforced concrete was developed and popularised by French gardener Joseph Monier. he obtained his first patent on July 16, 1867, on iron-reinforced troughs for horticulture, and exhibited his invention at the Paris exposition of 1867.
he continued to find new uses for the material and obtained further patents: iron-reinforced cement pipes and basins (1868); iron-reinforced cement panels for building façades (1869); bridges made of iron-reinforced cement (1873); and reinforced concrete beams (1878). In 1875, he designed the first iron-reinforced cement bridge, constructed at the Castle of Chazelet.
In 1879, German civil engineer G. A. Wayss bought the German rights to Monier’s patents and, in 1884, started the first commercial use of reinforced concrete in his firm Wayss & Freytag.
François hennébique saw Monier’s reinforced concrete tubs and tanks at the Paris exposition and began experimenting with ways to apply the material to building construction. he set up his own firm the same year and, in 1892, patented a complete building system using the material.
The first major reinforced concrete building in europe was the Weaver building, a flour mill and corn storage which formerly stood alongside the half-tide basin of the North Dock in Swansea, South Wales.
It formed part of a complex of buildings owned by Weaver & Co., and was designed and built by hennébique in 1897.
The Weaver building survived World War II bombings in 1941, the general post-war clearance of other industrial buildings in the area and the filling in of the adjacent basin in the late 1960s.
however, in 1984, it was demolished to make way for a new Sainsbury’s superstore, which now stands on the site.
S. P. Jones, Cardiff. QUESTION Eton College was founded by Henry VI for the education of poor boys. How and when did it become a college for rich boys? ETON was founded in 1440 by henry VI as The King’s College of our Lady of eton Beside Wyndsor to provide a free education for 70 ‘poor and indigent scholars’ who would go on to King’s College, Cambridge — founded by henry the following year.
From the start, henry VI laid down that, as well as the King’s Scholars, there should be Commensals or ‘table companions’ — ‘sons of noblemen and special friends of the College’ — so known because they took their meals with the King’s Scholars in College hall.
After the Civil War, when the Royalist sympathies and nobility of the Commensals led to their demise, a different system emerged. The Commensals were replaced by oppidans (from the Latin oppidum, meaning town) who studied at eton, but were not allowed to take their meals in College hall with Fellows and scholars.
oppidans, unlike the Scholars, had to pay fees. They also had to find their own lodgings, at first in town, but later in a ‘dame’s house’. The first of these dames’ houses was said to have been run by the mother of the headmaster, Dr Snape, who built Jourdelay’s house in 1722 for the purpose.
Future prime minister William Gladstone, for example, boarded with Mrs Shurey in the house, now completely rebuilt, at the southern end of the Long Walk; and the future Duke of Wellington boarded with Miss Naylor at the Manor house, which is adjacent to the Memorial Buildings in Common Lane.
eventually, the dames’ houses were superseded by a standard house system. There are now 24 oppidan houses, each with around 50 fee-paying boys.
At the heart of eton sits the Scholars’ house, which provides a free education for any boy who passes the scholarship exam and can’t afford the fees. As there are 70 King’s Scholars, and they are in college for five years, around 14 are admitted per year (a ‘block’ in eton argot). The King’s Scholars retain various privileges. For instance they take all their meals in College hall They also live in the heart of the school, where both eton College Chapel and Lupton’s Tower are situated.
Former eton King’s Scholars include harold Macmillan, Boris Johnson, George orwell and John Maynard Keynes.
Paul Coleman, Maidenhead, Berks. QUESTION On BBC2’s Newsnight, Ken Livingstone claimed the CIA once sank in the Thames a ship carrying a consignment of old London buses bound for Cuba. Is this true? FURTHER to earlier answers, as a 16-yearold junior with an insurance company in the city, which dealt in marine insurance, I had been sent on a rather boring course which introduced us to the terms and conditions of marine insurance.
By the end of the week, we were wondering whether we had chosen the correct career. Then, lo and behold, we were treated to a field trip along the Thames to Greenhithe, with the intention of viewing the MV Magdeburg as she lay on her side in the river.
on arrival, we could see many of the buses that had already been removed from the vessel and stored ashore. The ship itself had a large, floating, heavy lift crane in attendance, operated by an east German crew.
To our surprise, we were invited to take a closer view, board the floating crane and cross to the upturned hull of the ship.
This involved our jumping across a gap between the two vessels, walking the length of the side of the hull and clambering inside, which resulted in us moving about by walking on the walls and leaping across any open doorways that were part of our ‘deck’.
All this with the leather-soled shoes and striped suits favoured by us ‘city lads’. Not sure what the east Germans thought of us.
So what started that week as a chore ended up being a great experience that encouraged me to stay in the profession for 40 years. I don’t think health and safety would allow us to do it nowadays.
David Miller, Brentwood, Essex.
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