WIDNES is a 'sad place' when it comes to building design, the author of the revised architects 'bible' has said.
Richard Pollard has updated the volume of The Buildings of England which covers the town and found it to be an uninspiring place.
He thinks the town is almost without design and structure, and that the centre is 'drab and incoherent'.
Mr Pollard visited Widnes during three years of research to update The Buildings of England guide to Liverpool and South West Lancashire, first written in 1968 by Nikolaus Pevsner.
But he did find positives.
He told the World: "I think what the council has done with Victoria Square is really good - nice and simple."
He also praised St Luke's in Farnworth and the Runcorn to Widnes Bridge.
More surprisingly, he thinks the municipal building, on Kingsway, has aged well, and that a sprucing up of the oddly shaped magistrates' court, almost opposite, would surprise people.
He said: "There might be some structural issues, but I think if you could clean it up, it would be special."
The good
l St Marys, West Bank - 'A splendid building of red stone, big majestic and full of inspiration in the magnificent interior'.
l Victoria Park Cenotaph - 'Impressive and dignified'
l Fiddlers Ferry Power Station - 'A truly sublime building overpowering a flat and featureless setting'.
The bad
l Kingsway House, Kingsway - 'Cowardly. An offensive and illiterate brick lump, presumably in attempted sympathy for Victoria Square'.
l St Michael's, Ditchfield Road, Hough Green - 'Mean and hard'.
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