Living in the City of Tomorrow – Barbican May 29th 2013
October 30th, 2012
This looks worth an evening out for anyone interested in Modernist housing.
The remarkable thing about the Hansaviertel built for the 1957 international building exhibition by scores of what were then the worlds most celebrated architects from Le Corbusier to Niemeyer by way of Walter Gropius, Arne Jacobsen and Alvar Aalto, is that it looks better now than it did then.
St Pauls Cathedral sightlines
February 25th, 2012
If the following is the result of the present building restrictions supposedly preventing visual clutter obscuring or degrading the views of St Pauls Cathedral from well known landmarks around London then why bother? They have clearly been watered down to the point of no return. I thought they were intended to PROTECT the views of St Pauls from a set of established points around London including Primrose Hill. Who is responsible for this change? Ken or Boris? How is this protecting the view of St Pauls from Parliament Hill? I am horrified.
The best exposition I have seen on TV about the St Pauls sightlines has been from Andrew Marr in his series Britain from Above when he devoted a whole section of the programme to the Abercrombie plan for London and to the subject of sightlines.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/britainfromabove/stories/buildingbritain/3dmodelling.shtml
Rosebury Avenue – former Metropolitan Water Board HQ
February 1st, 2012
On my Lubetkin visit to the capital last year, across the road from LSE Rosebury Hall where I was staying, I noticed this magnificent building, origin unknown to me until serendipity played a hand while going through some old Look and Learn magazines from the 1960s I came across this article (large graphic) showing it to have been the headquarters of the Metropolitan Water Board.
Streets in the sky – The One Show
September 10th, 2011
While attending the Sheffield Heritage Open Day (HOD) I chanced upon Roy Hattersley seated outside the main entrance to Park Hill . . .
Simon Gawthorpe with Roy Hattersley at Park Hill
Heygate Estate – Elephant & Castle
August 16th, 2011
Thought for the day – Regeneration is social cleansing
In my continuing quest for béton brut (raw concrete) I wandered along to what’s left of the Heygate to snatch a few shots.
Wooden cobbles
August 16th, 2011
“The streets of London were once paved with end grain cobbles and end grain flooring has been used widely in engineering and other industries because of its durability,”
Next to Braithwaite House are wooden cobbles, blocks of wood on end, as seen in butchers’ blocks, a small square of them within a cobbled lane to the left of Braithwaite House in Bunhill Row in the City of London. Fascinating.
UPDATE: – 30/3/12 – I’ve found some more. Walking up Pentonville Road towards the Angel, on the left just after the junction with Penton Street I walked behind a car waiting to pull out from the layby outside 98-100 Pentonville Road and there beneath gaps in the tarmac, are wooden cobbles. If I’ve got the address wrong then they are not far from there, check the adjacent lay bys outside buildings there in case I’ve got the number wrong.
I found several bare patches, and touched them to be sure. I’m surprised the tarmac sticks to them at all to be frank and it would be much nicer if it were to be removed and the ends varnished, what a lovely sight that would be.
Sheffield – All in a day – The City – BBC 1973
July 30th, 2011
This 45 minute documentary was shot in one day on Wednesday 5th September 1973, using several film crews each with a different assignment. One to follow a man retiring on his 65th birthday, the hospital, the Police service, a funeral,
Hyde Park flats
Please note: The following two photographs are not taken from All in a Day, they are taken from the English Heritage video about the Urban Splash development, entitled Romancing the Stone.
Hyde Park under construction
Dixon Lane from Hyde Park flats under construction and Sheaf Market to the right with Castle Market visible at top right, the Norfolk Arms is just visible
Dunford Hadfields from where the man was retiring, the local newspaper, the slaughterhouse, and some long shots taken from different points in the city, showing the landscape, including at one point a breathtaking view of Hyde Park (above).
Park Hill – Urban Splash II
July 25th, 2011
Last October 20th I attended a sales talk and presentation by Urban Splash masquerading as an architectural tour. On the walk that followed I met a fellow blogger, was shown round Park Hill in record time, took a lot of pictures and wrote about what I’d seen.
Park Hill – Inside Out
July 25th, 2011
Thanks to a member of Sheffield City Council myself and a friend were allowed access to 187 Norwich Row to see what living conditions are like there and the panorama below was taken from the kitchen balcony.
Click for city panorama from Park Hill kitchen balcony
Sheffield: Gleadless Valley Panorama
July 25th, 2011
This will become an article at some point but just for now enjoy the pictures. Two large panoramas of Gleadless Valley and its housing. The same series of photographs but saved at different resolutions.
Panoramic 11764 x 1330 pixels 2.21Mb in size >click here<
Panoramic 23528 x 2660 pixels 7.75Mb in size >click here<
My Gleadless Valley photos on Flickr:- Gleadless Valley photos here
