Category: Architecture

More Chronicles of War

On the evening of Sunday 29th December 1940, seventy-five years ago, there was low cloud over the English Channel and low tide on the Thames. Being a Sunday evening the buildings in the City were mostly locked up and empty. The Luftwaffe had waited for these conditions to launch a devastating firestorm on the City… Continue reading More Chronicles of War

How About a Bacon Butty?

I expect you have often seen this or similar. At least sixty-one were built and now thirteen remain. It is, of course, a cabman’s shelter. As originally they were parked on public highways and some still are, they could be no  bigger than a horse and cart. 

Barons Court

It’s a bit of a mystery how Barons Court got its name. Here are the clues and you must play Poirot today. The area between the North End Road and Hammersmith was only built over in the last decades of the 19th century.

K2+K6 Doesn’t Equal K9

I hadn’t visited the Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields for about a decade. It has had some major work done in that period and now looks even more like it did on the day of Soane’s death in 1837.

Autumn in Umbria

It is distinctly autumnal in north Umbria. Mushrooms, truffles, gourds and pumpkins are on display in the shops; and chestnuts. The view across the valley from L’Ospidale to Monte Santa Maria Tiberina is beautiful. L’Ospidale was probably a hostel for pilgrims and was restored by its current owner about 25 years ago. Today we drove… Continue reading Autumn in Umbria

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

(That’s the only French content in this post.) This is what the old Odeon in Kensington High Street will look like after it has been re-developed as flats with seven cinema screens in the basement. Looks good to me. The Art Deco facade has been preserved but the conservationists are still furious. 

What Do Bloggers Read?

Where do chefs go to eat? What do wine-makers drink? What do bloggers read? I have had little luck in finding good blogs and then, like the buses, two come along at once. You might like them as well.

Stones of Venice

A new exhibition opens at the Ashmolean today; drawings of Venice culled from the Uffizi, Christ Church and their own collection. Among others they are by Titian, Tintoretto and Canaletto.