I am always amazed by the grandeur of civic architecture of the 19th c. Take this lovely vast terracota building on the corner of London Road. It occupies a triangular space circumscribed by adjacent streets and used to house, believe it or not, the Police and Fire Station. The building was erected between 1904 and 1906, and you can spot some fine architectural and decorative details throughout the facade. It was described as the finest fire station in the world, with which epithet one can hardly disagree.
