A Writer's Table Spot

Not mine - I have an LG button phone - in the brilliant Le Pain Quotidien

A Gable A Day Keeps The Glooms Away

Was there ever a more uplifting urban street architecture than the Flemish gable? This is yesterday's building from Great Portland Street, shot from a different angle - and look at that little doorway building on the right of it.

The Gables of Great Portland Street

The only difference between ours and the Flemish originals is that we, it appears, allow inappropriate shop fascias on the ground floor.

Heritage Preserved

South of London Bridge, and next to Butlers Wharf, a building I see often but cannot put a name to.  Can anyone help?

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The Benedictine monastery, founded in 960 AD, that gave rise to Westminster Abbey. This is St Catherine's Garden. The toppings on the remains of the columns are likely there to prevent weather damage to the stones underneath - but they make a beautiful outdoor sitting room.

The Fleet Air Arm (Royal Navy) Memorial in Whitehall Gardens in dialogue with that of the Royal Air Force on Embankment.

London Bridge and Sitting at the Foot of the Shard

London's built environment skyline with Rafael Vinoly added to it. 

London Cranes Against the Sky

For Art Deco Lovers from The Telegraph.

The Sweet Tendrils of Spring Extend; Days Lengthen; Congestion Remains the Same

Late afternoon in Central London: only the footways function.

The Tottenham Court Road Frontage I Mentioned Earlier

Wet, with ferns growing out of the rainwater gutters, with the fascia distorted but hopefully not destroyed, a beautiful building nonetheless. Every building of a similar age carries in its structure and design a part of the retail history of London. Tottenham Court Road, the main route north from Oxford Street and the Crossrail hub to the Euston Road, has plenty of potential, plenty of the specialist shops that attract footfall: furniture and furnishings, electronic, Charlotte Street restaurants to the back of it, as well as world class hospitals and institutes: University College Hospital is at its northern end. Treasuring heritage buildings like this one can only help the street succeed in what are transitional times for retailing. This particular building has an emblem carved into the frieze at the top. I don’t recognize it but perhaps someone does.

Pleasing Oxford Street Frontages I Missed Earlier

As we plod around in the rain and snow, it lightens the experience a bit to look up (not when you're crossing the road of course). Have a look at the rooflines. Savour the gables. The first to pictures are of two beautiful but neglected buildings I may have missed earlier in North Oxford Street (the section between the Circus and Tottenham Court Road). Also included is another shot of the beautiful corner building at No. 52, a building I'd love to kinow more about. And coming later today, a beautiful gable from Tottenham Court Road. 

 

Looking out for London's Small Pedestrian Lanes

Great big doors covering over passageways or little lanes. While these things do not always make pretty pictures, they fascinate me.

The first is in Hanway Street, itself a network of late medieval lanes leading from Tottenham Court Road through to Oxford Street but with a modern development on the Tottenham Court Road corner. The second is off Windmill Street just north of Hanway Street. Here, the road suddenly ends whereas before it ran all the way through to Percy Street.

This Week's Discussion

Delivering from the front - London's streets tend to come in two main varieties: broad streets like Tottenham Court Road, below, and, behind the main frontages, parallel narrow streets like Whitfield Street (second pic). In terms of timely delivery and less damage to street infrastructure - kerbstones out of alignment, cracked paving stones, damage to lamp posts and road surface - it makes a lot of sense to deliver goods from the front. What do you think?

The Quadriga at Hyde Park Corner

The blue shadow is caused by the fact that I'm photographing it through the sunscreened window at the front of a bus.

More on Oxford Street's Retail Heritage

Two pleasing Oxford Street buildings that I missed earlier from the northern section that runs from the Circus to Tottenham Court Road, both in need of tlc. And another view of the glorious building at No. 42 (52, my mistake), at the entrance of Hanway Place from Oxford Street, in need of celebrating - who knows the architects?