What is that?

So, I'm in Waterstones in Newcastle at lunchtime. I'm paying for a book at the desk and there are a few other people waiting and others hovering about. Outside on the pavement, visible through the window, is a strange, tardis-like thing, looking as if it is made of old rusty metal. 

Me: Do you know what that is outside?
Shop Assistant: No! But I have sometimes wondered.
Other shop assistant: I think it's some kind of art installation.
Person in the queue: Yes it's some sort of art thing.
Person just hovering: I have never noticed it before, though I've passed it hundreds of times.
(A few others have a similar glazed look.)
Guy in the queue: It looks like something arty and I bet we paid for it.

I turn to leave. 

Another guy in the queue: It's a ventilation shaft for the Metro. 

Everyone is suitably impressed. 

I go out and take a photo.

Parsons Polygon is a terracotta obelisk erected in 1985. It is a tribute to Sir Charles Parsons who developed the steam turbine on Tyneside. Designs pressed into the clay are based on his engineering drawings. It conceals an air shaft for the Metro.


Now if a local Blipper had been in Waterstones, I bet they could have told all about it.