Corner Store, a new cafe-corner compatible building

[Ralph_S]

What another great moc!

I like the fact that your corner store can be +or- taller, with an additional floor!

Personnaly, I prefer the smaller version, it looks better IMO.

The inside is great too!

And the pics with all your mocs is just beautiful! It has a real british feeling!

Thanks. That British look was what I was going for, although a British friend of mine, who saw the Curry house and the Chip Shop together a few weeks ago thought they looked a little bit Dutch somehow -perhaps not surprising considering that I am actually a Dutchman.

Opinions on which looks better (full height or with a floor removed) are a bit divided. Side-by-side I like the buildings better when they are tall -certainly next to Cafe Corner. Individually they look better when they're low. Of course, one more floor also gave me the opportunity to build more interior!

Cheers,

Ralph

[Opproperaar]

You may get tired of the constant repitition of hearing this but damn, that's gorgeous!

The building and the shop underneath both have a very neat, very clean look that I like very much.

Perhaps one of the most boring details of all - but nonetheless I especially the little stone plate that protrudes between the two white windows. You are as skilled a town builder as you are a military one. Keep it up I say

Edited June 23, 2008 by Hairy Ruben

[Ralph_S]

You may get tired of the constant repitition of hearing this but damn, that's gorgeous!

The building and the shop underneath both have a very neat, very clean look that I like very much.

Perhaps one of the most boring details of all - but nonetheless I especially the little stone plate that protrudes between the two white windows. You are as skilled a town builder as you are a military one. Keep it up I say

I don't think I'll tire of compliments like this anytime soon :D Initially the wall between the windows was just flat, but I soon realised that it looked very plain. Cafe Corner type buildings tend to be rather elaborately styled and quite a few buildings in this style do have recessed panels with a little ornament under the windows.

Cheers,

Ralph

[xzanfr]

Hi, Ralph.

Please don't think of my previous comments regarding the height of the building to be a criticism.. your constructions are of such a high standard that it's only possible to mention very minor things

I was trying to point out (in my usual incoherent way!) that that style of building relied on it's repetition over several floors to achieve the final result. As a fellow town builder I've made a similar building that looked weird until a further section was added, making it 2 stories high - it made a big difference to the overall look. Your's worked just as well with a single storey above and actually reminded me of Arkwrights shop in 'open all hours' - something I've been meaning to build for a long time!!

You've mentioned the colour being a bit 'plain' but I think that adds to the overall feel of the building - most of these type of buildings were rendered and painted with the window and door detail used to give a 'shadow line'. They tended to paint the whole thing a plain colour which gives emphasis to the detailing (like black gates and planting for a residential property and shop front for a commercial).

I think you've captured the look of small town Britain well in your picture and it reminds me of Guildford - where the spread of London has just about reached the town and bigger Georgian buildings were being constructed.......and you've the black cabs and busses!

I hope I'm not rambling too much about details but I understand that you're going for high accuracy in your street (also see my first line!!).

o/t

looking at your comments on flickr, it seems that the U.K. is the only place that has carpet in it's pubs, surley this can't be true !!!

[Ralph_S]

Hi, Ralph.

Please don't think of my previous comments regarding the height of the building to be a criticism.. your constructions are of such a high standard that it's only possible to mention very minor things

I was trying to point out (in my usual incoherent way!) that that style of building relied on it's repetition over several floors to achieve the final result. As a fellow town builder I've made a similar building that looked weird until a further section was added, making it 2 stories high - it made a big difference to the overall look. Your's worked just as well with a single storey above and actually reminded me of Arkwrights shop in 'open all hours' - something I've been meaning to build for a long time!!

You've mentioned the colour being a bit 'plain' but I think that adds to the overall feel of the building - most of these type of buildings were rendered and painted with the window and door detail used to give a 'shadow line'. They tended to paint the whole thing a plain colour which gives emphasis to the detailing (like black gates and planting for a residential property and shop front for a commercial).

I think you've captured the look of small town Britain well in your picture and it reminds me of Guildford - where the spread of London has just about reached the town and bigger Georgian buildings were being constructed.......and you've the black cabs and busses!

I hope I'm not rambling too much about details but I understand that you're going for high accuracy in your street (also see my first line!!).

o/t

looking at your comments on flickr, it seems that the U.K. is the only place that has carpet in it's pubs, surley this can't be true !!!

No worries. I understand that if people prefer one configuration that doesn't mean that they dislike the other one, and you were right. These century old buildings do tend to have a degree of repetition in their design and it was deliberate in mine. I'm glad you picked up on that. In principle the street could be in one of the London Burroughs or smaller towns such as Guildford. I live in Southampton. The actual city centre was largely destroyed in the second World War and many of the buildings that survived were wrecked in a post-war development frenzy of glass and concrete. Since it was (and still is) a fairly large port and a regional centre, it used to have many buildings like these in and around the city centre. It still has in some of it's busier suburbs. The black cab and the red bus were indeed inspired by London, although you do see cabs like this in Southampton as well. Busses in the UK seem to come in all colours of the rainbow.

As for carpets in pubs, it has a certain charm, although with the smoking ban in place, rather than smelling disgusting cigarette smoke you know smell decades old stale beer. Yummie!

Cheers,

Ralph

[JSN]

Great work once again Raplh. Your pub is really nice and I like the slightly cramped look of it familiar to those of us who frequent British pubs. Makes me fancy going for a pint! I like the way you made the upstairs into cramped student flats, again great realism. I'm still amazed but how much detail you have managed to get into such a small space. I can't wait to see more of your creations.

[SalvoBrick]

I like all the buildings, very nice!

[Ralph_S]

I like all the buildings, very nice!

Thanks. Congratulations on your 100th post, by the way!

Great work once again Raplh. Your pub is really nice and I like the slightly cramped look of it familiar to those of us who frequent British pubs. Makes me fancy going for a pint! I like the way you made the upstairs into cramped student flats, again great realism. I'm still amazed but how much detail you have managed to get into such a small space. I can't wait to see more of your creations.

On MOCpages somebody commented on my chip shop telling me that it was too cramped and suggesting that I make it bigger. My first thought was that he must be an American. No offense to Americans, but English Chip Shops tend to be tiny (and chips are the name the English use instead of 'fries'). The same applies to pubs. Sure, some pubs are massive, but I've been to places where you literally couldn't reach the loo to get rid of an excess of beer in your bladder because they were too cramped and full of people. Small pubs have a certain charm.

I couldn't figure out what to do with the upper floors. The apartment above the Corner Shop/Store is relatively spacious and tidy, but above the pub the stairs take up too much space to turn it into a proper apartment. I'm not a student anymore (haven't been for a while) but when I moved to the UK to work for a university, I spent a week living in a guest block in their halls of residence. That brought back unpleasant memories of student houses back in The Netherlands. All these things combined made me decide that only students (and perhaps illegal immigrants) would be willing put op with such cramped living quarters. Since I wasn't trying to make a political statement, student apartments it was.

Cheers,

Ralph