Category: Architecture

Swiss Role

The Honourable Artillery Company takes pride in being the oldest regiment in the British Army, founded by Henry VIII in 1537. It is irksome for the HAC that Pope Julius II founded the Pontifical Swiss Guard in 1506.

A Pinch of Pugin

Nine of the eighteen buildings in Ireland that Pugin had a hand in (I’m choosing my words carefully) are in Co Wexford and you may well wonder why I didn’t see any when there recently. St Aidan’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy would have been an obvious choice, especially as we drove through the town.

Pines & Needles

There is more to Rome than the churches that have featured here recently and not all of it is good.

Baroque around the Clock

We left J L-M’s exploration of Roman architecture at the Tempietto on Thursday. He chooses one more example of the Renaissance style: Palazzo Pietro Massimo alle Colonne.

Tosca

It’s not easy to date the opera house in Rome because it has twice been altered. Most recently the facade (not my greatest picture) was re-done in 1958. Prior to that, in the 1920s, there was a substantial make-over.

Romanesque & Renaissance

James Lees-Milne fast-forwards from Early Christian (Santa Constanza) to Romanesque; Santa Maria in Cosmedin. It was built in 782 on the site of a granary and grain market. Astonishingly the church has two reminders of its mercantile past: some of the columns are incorporated into the walls and two grain measures are preserved in niches… Continue reading Romanesque & Renaissance

Two Churches and some other stuff

J L-M’s Roman Mornings kicks off with an ancient Roman masterpiece, the Pantheon. If you have been to Rome you will have seen it so we don’t need to revisit it this trip.

Roman Holiday

The picture is a detail of Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino by Turner. He had been painting Rome for twenty years and this was his last picture of the city, completed in 1839. It was sold by Sotheby’s in 2010 for £29.7 million – a record for a Turner – to the Getty Museum. But… Continue reading Roman Holiday

Chelsea Quiz

The link between investment manager McInroy & Wood and one of the greatest letter writers of the 19th century may not be immediately obvious. There is also a tenuous link to the greatest diarist of the 20th century. This sounds like a question on the venerable (started in 1947) radio programme Round Britain Quiz.

Building Barons Court

London is being transformed by new blocks of flats and offices. Supply will outstrip demand, especially if we have a Brexit led recession. I have looked at some old Ordnance Survey maps to see how it changed towards the end of the 19th century.