Category: Architecture

From Alperton to Paddington

How do you first see a city? Arriving at Venice’s Santa Lucia station and stepping out onto broad steps leading down to the Grand Canal is hard to beat. Yesterday I walked to London along the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal.

Castles in the Air

This is the view from the top floor looking north. The futuristic office building on the left is The Ark. To the right, the chocolate and white striped building is a Novotel.

Witney

Witney is famous as David Cameron’s constituency from 2001 to 2016  but three hundred years earlier Witney was synonymous with blankets.

Sherborne Park

I am staying for a few days in a village close to Burford in west Oxfordshire to explore the locality. Yesterday afternoon we went for a circular walk in Sherborne Park.

Art at the Merrion

Sated with opera and black pudding we drove up the M11 to Dublin on Monday morning. Six of us in a hire car with our bags is cosy and, sportingly, the General took the rear gunner’s seat at the back. We met the Judge and Mr and Mrs Dog Lover for lunch at the Merrion.

Wrabness to Mistley

On Tuesday I took a slightly shorter walk than usual, only five miles. As usual, it was along a tidal stretch of river – not the Thames, the Stour that divides Essex from Suffolk and joins the North Sea at Harwich.

From Sewage to Senile Treatment

In between Mortlake and Kew by the towpath there is a substantial plant that was used by Thames Water to treat sewage. It’s proper name is a biothane plane but that needn’t concern us as it shut in 2015.

A Few Stiffies

If I can’t remember what I’ve written I certainly don’t expect you to remember what you have read here. In January 2016, in Democratic Principles, Michael Stiff of Stiff + Trevillion made a brief appearance. His practice flourishes; one of his recent commissions is to design Damien Hirst’s new HQ in Beak Street.

Piccadilly Circus

A visit to Piccadilly Circus tube station is not something to look forward to. I have always been aware of its iconic 1920s architecture but until now had not taken time to admire it.