Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Ganton Street
Street sign
Ganton Street
City of Westminster
London, September 2006
“Ganton Street is a street in central London that runs between Marshall Street and Kingly Street. It is crossed by Carnaby Street, and Newburgh Street joins it on its north side. The street is in a part-pedestrianised area dominated by independent clothing shops and restaurants, and on upper floors, offices, particularly media companies. Immediately to the east of Regent Street, Ganton Street is variously described as being in the West End, Soho, and "Carnaby" areas. Ganton Street was formerly Cross Court and South Row.” (Ganton Street, Wikipedia)
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Hanover Square Cabmen's Shelter
Cabmen's Shelter
Hanover Square, Mayfair
London, September 2006
“The Cabmen's Shelter Fund was established in London, England, in 1875 to run shelters for the drivers of hansom cabs and later hackney carriages (taxicabs). By law, cab drivers could not leave the cab stand while their cab was parked there. This made it very difficult for them to obtain hot meals and could be unpleasant in bad weather. If they drove to a pub to buy food then they would have to pay somebody to look after their cab while they were inside, otherwise it was likely to be stolen. In addition they would be tempted to drink alcohol on the job. Newspaper editor George Armstrong and The Earl of Shaftesbury took it upon themselves to set up a charity to construct and run shelters at major cab stands. The idea allegedly came to Armstrong when all the cabbies seeking a pub's refuge and warmth on a snowy night in St John's Wood rendered him unable to hire a taxi there. These shelters were small green huts, which were not allowed to be larger than a horse and cart, as they stood on the public highway. Between 1875 and 1914, 61 of these buildings were built around London, the first being on Acacia Road in St John's Wood near Armstrong's home. Most were staffed by an attendant who sold food and (non-alcoholic) drink to the cabbies and were provided with a kitchen in which the attendant could cook this food and also food provided by the cabbies themselves. The attendant was not generally paid, but was expected to make an income from these sales. The shelters were also provided with seats and tables and books and newspapers, most of them donated by the publishers or other benefactors. Most could accommodate ten to thirteen men. Gambling, drinking and swearing were strictly forbidden. Thirteen of the shelters still exist and are still run by the Cabmen's Shelter Fund. All are now Grade II listed buildings. ” (Cabmen's Shelter Fund, Wikipedia)
Friday, December 28, 2007
When man obeys
“When man obeys without being presumed good there is neither liberty nor a native land”
- Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (1767-1794)
By Ian Hamilton Finlay, 1983
Davies Street, Mayfair
London, September 2006
“Finlay, Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener, is best known for his concrete or visual poetry. It is the unique feature on this award winning building, winner of Housing Design Awards 2005, won for its quality and craftsmanship. On the hand-set terracotta cladding of this luxurious office and residential block, Finlay’s three carved quotations of verse, from the French revolutionary poet Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, are all commentaries on freedom. ‘Les mots juste sont entendus par toutes les consciences’,(the right words are heard by all consciences) ‘two many laws too few examples’ and ‘where man obeys without being presumed good there is neither liberty nor a native land’. Saint-Just (1767-1794) was known as the Archangel of Terror, and met an early death, killed aged 26 by the guillotine. This work can be found on the Burnt Sienna Walk, between number 2, Antony Gormley’s ‘Room’ and number 3, Henry Moore’s ‘Time-Life Screen’, all three sculptures are embedded within the architecture.” (Ian Hamilton Finlay, Walks of Art)
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Choir window
Choir window
Church of the Immaculate Conception
Seen from Mount Street Gardens
Mount Street, Mayfair
London, September 2006
“The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, also known as Farm Street Church, is a Catholic parish church run by the Society of Jesus in Mayfair, Central London, England. Its main entrance is in Farm Street, though it can also be accessed from the adjacent Mount Street Gardens. Sir Simon Jenkins, in his book England's Thousand Best Churches, describes the church as ‘Gothic Revival at its most sumptuous’. In the 1840s, when the Jesuits first began looking for a location for their London church, they found the site in the mews of a back street. The name ‘Farm Street’ derives from 'Hay Hill Farm' which, in the eighteenth century, extended from Hill Street eastward beyond Berkeley Square. In 1843, Pope Gregory XVI received a petition from English Catholics for permission to erect a Jesuit Church in London and plans were accepted.” (Church of the Immaculate Conception, Wikipedia)
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Grosvenor Chapel
Grosvenor Chapel
South Audley Street, Mayfair
London, September 2006
“Grosvenor Chapel is an Anglican church in what is now the City of Westminster, in England, built in the 1730s. It inspired many churches in New England. It is situated on South Audley Street in Mayfair. The foundation stone of the Grosvenor Chapel was laid on 7 April 1730 by Sir Richard Grosvenor, 4th Baronet, owner of the surrounding property, who had leased the site for 99 years at a peppercorn rent to a syndicate of four "undertakers" led by Benjamin Timbrell, a prosperous local builder. The new building was completed and ready to use by April 1731.” (Grosvenor Chapel, Wikipedia)
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
The Leopard
The Leopard by Jonathan Kenworthy, 1984
Friday Street / Cannon Street
City of London
London, September 2006
“A sculpture of a leopard reclining in a tree, sited outside the head office of Wates. It was originally situated near Canonn Street in London, before it was relocated to Wates’ headquarters at Station Approach, Leatherhead in 2009.” (The Leopard, Art UK)
Monday, December 24, 2007
30 Cannon Street
30 Cannon Street
City of London
London, September 2006
“30 Cannon Street is a modern office building on Cannon Street in the City of London, close to Mansion House underground station. It was designed by Whinney, Son & Austen Hall as an office building for Crédit Lyonnais and built between 1974 and 1977. It became a Grade II listed building in 2015. The location was formerly the site of the city church of St Mildred, Bread Street, designed by Christopher Wren after the medieval church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London; the Wren church was bombed and destroyed in the Second World War. The site was one of the last bomb sites in London to be redeveloped. The building has six storeys with a raised basement. Its height was limited due to its proximity to St Paul's Cathedral to the north-west, and the high water table prevented a sub-basement. Its shape was constrained by its triangular island site, east of Bread Street, west of the junction where Cannon Street crosses Queen Victoria Street. It originally had an entrance on each façade (the western one on Bread Street has been removed) and a large central circular banking hall (also now removed). Although built for Crédit Lyonnais, it was designed so it could occupied by three separate banks, one in each corner of the building, but the interior has been significantly altered.” (30 Cannon Street, Wikipedia)
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Shakespeare Tower
Shakespeare Tower
Barbican Estate
City of London
London, September 2006
“February 1976. Shakespeare Tower was, by itself, Phase Va of City’s building programme in the Barbican. It was constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons Limited. Shakespeare Tower is the centre-most of the three Barbican Towers, just to the west of the Barbican Arts Centre. It stands in the south podium, and is linked to the north podium (which is a few meters higher to take account of the slight slope of the Barbican site overall). Shakespeare Tower is 44 storeys high (garage level, street foyer level, 40 storeys of flats and 2 of penthouses). It featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest residential building in Europe for many years. Shakespeare Tower contains 113 flats and 3 penthouse maisonettes.” (Shakespeare Tower, Barbican Living)
Friday, December 21, 2007
140 London Wall
Bastion House by Powell & Moya, 1976
140 London Wall
City of London
London, September 2006
“Bastion House is an office block in the Barbican area of the City of London, England.[1] The building was designed by Powell & Moya and completed in 1976. It has 17 storeys. Its basement contains the remains of a tower which formed part of the west gate of a Roman fort protecting Londinium. It contained a sentry post and access to the walkway of London Wall. This is often open to the public. In 2022, plans by the City of London Corporation to demolish the building along with the Museum of London and construct a new office building on the site were opposed by locals. In 2023, while demolition was regarded as the best option to transform the site to provide new public open spaces and cultural attractions, it was clear that there was some desire locally for the Bastion House building to be retained. City of London Corporation explored whether there was a viable alternative. Plans for demolition were approved in April 2024.” (Bastion House, Wikipedia)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Moor House & Citypoint
Moor House, London Wall
Citypoint, Ropemaker Street
Moorgate, City of London
London, September 2006
“Moor House is a large office building on London Wall in Moorgate, located in the City of London. It is located on the northern edge of the financial district and is one of the largest buildings in the area, standing 84 metres (276 ft) tall and with 29,000 square metres (310,000 sq ft) of floor space. Completed in 2004, it was the first building to be designed for the forthcoming Crossrail, with a ventilation shaft to the station underneath the building. When built, it had the deepest foundations in London, which reach down 57 metres (187 ft) and are specifically designed to withstand further tunneling below it in the future. The building cost £182 million to construct and was designed by Sir Norman Foster. Tenants include CLSA, Unicredit, Peel Hunt, TT International.” (Moor House, Wikipedia)
“Citypoint (previously known as Britannic House and Britannic Tower) is a building located on Ropemaker Street on the northern fringe of the City of London, the main financial district and historic nucleus of London. Originally named Britannic House, Citypoint was built in 1967 as a 35-storey, 122-metre (400 ft) tall headquarters for British Petroleum (now BP), becoming the first building in the City of London area to exceed the height of St Paul's Cathedral. The designers were F. Milton Cashmore and H. N. W. Grosvenor. In 1991 British Petroleum moved back to their original headquarters on Finsbury Circus and the building was renamed Britannic Tower. It was refurbished in 2000, with additional floor space and the height increased to 127 metres (417 ft). The designer for the refurbishment was Sheppard Robson. It was renamed Citypoint after its refurbishment.” (Citypoint, Wikipedia)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Britannia
Britannia by Francis Derwent Wood, 1924
Britannic House
Moorgate, City of London
London, September 2006
“Britannic House designed by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens. On the north-west side of Finsbury Circus, London EC2, with front on the road leading into the Circus from the west and on Moorgate. Designed by Lutyens for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which later became British Petroleum. One of Sir Francis Derment Wood's statues of Britannia appears at the corner of the of the building in the photograph at left. The right photograph shows the position of Britannia and the Indian Water Carrier. In his magisterial and massive history of architecture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Henry-Russell Hitchcock points out that ‘it fell to Lutyens's lot to build some of the biggest business structures erected anywhere outside America’ in the first three decades of the twentieth century. ‘Lutyens's most successful big business building is doubtless Britannic House of 1924-7. This profits from the site between Finsbury Circus and Moorgate Street, the curve of the circus giving to the eastern front a certain major Baroque drama that is echoed in the versatile play with seventeenth-eighteenth-century in the detailing’.” (Britannic House, The Victorian Web)
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Double life
Evening Standard: “Double life of evil architect”
Finsbury Pavement
Islington
London, September 2006
Monday, December 17, 2007
The Moorgate Lighthouse
The Moorgate Lighthouse
42 Moorgate
City of London
London, September 2006
“Stroll up Moorgate Street from the Bank of England, and about a third of the way along on your right, look up and, set into a niche in the corner of number 42, you will see a stone model of a lighthouse. This is because this was once the headquarters of the Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corporation which, through various takeovers and mergers, is now just a footnote in Aviva’s corporate history. The building itself was designed by Aston Webb, that great exponent of Imperial architecture and the man behind Admiralty Arch, Imperial College and the Brompton Road entrance to the V&A. The lighthouse model is 15 foot (4.5m) high and in Portland stone, and the niche in which it sits is decorated with a frieze of ships in sail. At one time the light even worked (although I can’t find out whether it flashed lighthouse style, or was just a steady beam) and I suspect that if Habib Bank, the current tenants of the building, spent a few quid to get that working again there would be general rejoicing.” (The Moorgate Lighthouse, Stuff about London)
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Billingsgate Market
Billingsgate Market
Trafalgar Way
Canary Wharf
Tower Hamlets
London, September 2006
“Billingsgate Fish Market is located in Canary Wharf in London. It is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east corner of the City of London, where the riverside market was originally established. In its original location in the 19th century, Billingsgate was the largest fish market in the world.” (Billingsgate Fish Market, Wikipedia)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
West India Docks
View from the Blackwall basin toward West India Docks
Canary Wharf
Isle of Dogs, Tower Hamlets
London, September 2006
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Temple of Storms
“Temple of Storms”
Storm Water Pumping Station by John Outram, 1988
Isle of Dogs
Tower Hamlets
London, September 2006
Friday, December 7, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Horse and Rider
Horse and Rider by Elisabeth Frink, 1974
Dover Street, Mayfair
London, September 2006
“Horse and Rider (FCR 242) is a 1974 bronze equestrian sculpture by Elisabeth Frink. The work was commissioned for a site in Mayfair; another cast is in Winchester. It was described by Frink as ‘an ageless symbol of man and horse’. One of Frink's earliest sculptures from 1950 was also titled Horse and Rider, and she returned to this subject over decades. A series of Frink prints from the early 1970s held by the Tate Gallery depict a horse and rider. Frink lived in southern France in 1967 to 1970, near the Camargue. She was inspired to create more works portraying horses; an example of a similar horse sculpture from the early 1970s is at the Cass Sculpture Foundation. The work was commissioned in 1974 by Trafalgar House for its development at the southern end of Dover Street, London, near the junction with Piccadilly, opposite The Ritz. It was modelled in plaster at Frink's studio in Southwark then cast in bronze in 1975 at Meridian Bronze Foundry in Peckham. It measures 244 centimetres (96 in) high. Frink also cast a small version 34.3 centimetres (13.5 in), in an edition of nine in 1974.” (Horse and Rider, Wikipedia)
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Carmarthen Place
Wooden houses by Emma Doherty, Amanda Menage, Kate Cheyne
Carmarthen Place
Bermondsey, Southwark
London, September 2006
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
London Stone
London Stone
Cannon Street
City of London
London, September 2006
“London Stone is a historic landmark housed at 111 Cannon Street in the City of London. It is an irregular block of oolitic limestone measuring 53 × 43 × 30 cm (21 × 17 × 12"), the remnant of a once much larger object that had stood for many centuries on the south side of the street. The name ‘London Stone’ was first recorded around the year 1100. The date and original purpose of the Stone are unknown, although it is possibly of Roman origin. There has been interest and speculation about it since the medieval period, but modern claims that it was formerly an object of veneration, or has some occult significance, are unsubstantiated.” (London Stone, Wikipedia)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
St Mary Woolnoth
St Mary Woolnoth
King William Street
City of London
London, September 2006
“St Mary Woolnoth is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on the corner of Lombard Street and King William Street near Bank junction. The present building is one of the Queen Anne Churches, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. The parish church continues to be actively used for services, with Holy Communion every Tuesday. St Mary Woolnoth lies in the ward of Langbourn.” (St Mary Woolnoth, Wikipedia)
Monday, November 19, 2007
Chimera, Fire, and Sea
Chimera with Personifications of Fire and the Sea by Francis William Doyle-Jones, 1914
24–28 Lombard Street
City of London
London, September 2006
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Children of Men
“Children of Men” ad on a double-decker bus
Bishopsgate
City of London
London, September 2006
“Children of Men is a 2006 science fiction action-thriller film co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The screenplay, based on P. D. James' 1992 novel The Children of Men, was credited to five writers, with Clive Owen making uncredited contributions. The film takes place in 2027, when two decades of human infertility have left society on the brink of collapse. Asylum seekers seek sanctuary in the United Kingdom, where they are subjected to detention and refoulement by the government. Owen plays civil servant Theo Faron, who must help refugee Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) escape the chaos. Children of Men also stars Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, and Charlie Hunnam.” (Children of Men, Wikipedia)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Bishopsgate Hall
Bishopsgate Hall
Bishopsgate Institute
Bishopsgate
City of London
London, September 2006
“Bishopsgate Institute is a cultural institute in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London, located near Liverpool Street station and Spitalfields market. The institute was established in 1895. It offers a cultural events programme, courses for adults, historic library and archive collections and community programme.” (Bishopsgate Institute, Wikipedia)
Friday, November 16, 2007
Bishopsgate Institute
Bishopsgate Institute
Bishopsgate
City of London
London, September 2006
“The Grade II* listed building was the first of the three major buildings designed by architect Charles Harrison Townsend (1851–1928). The other two are the nearby Whitechapel Gallery and the Horniman Museum in south London. His work combined elements of the Arts and Crafts movement and Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style), along with the typically Victorian.” (Bishopsgate Institute, Wikipedia)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Standing Man and Walking Man
Standing Man and Walking Man by Sean Henry, 1998-2000
Paddington Central
Paddington
London, September 2006
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