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Some Architectural Sites of Interest around London
London has many interesting buildings; some of which are giving way to major refurbishment work. Sadly refurbishment work, nowadays, means either taking the entire guts of the building out and replacing them with a confection of choice or knocking down the entire building and building the entire exterior from scratch. If Paris were to follow the same principle, there would be no soul left in the city. So here is what is left of some very interesting architecture and interior and interior design in London.
55 Broadway, London SW1 - A superb Art Deco building. It has to be London's first skyscraper type building. The building has many remarkable features, such as a prototype shopping mall and St James's Park Tube station. There are also the sculptures of Jacob Epstein and Henry Moore among others. The building remains generally unrefurbishedandtherefore quite remarkable and worthy of architectural note.
In Buildings of Britain by Nicholas Pevsner and Bridget Cherry 1973 noted
Broadway archtecturally means No.55, the headquarters building of LONDON TRANSPORT, by Charles Holden, 1927-9, a bold building for London and its date, even if in some ways still keeping a retreat open to the broad Georgian road. The composition in blocks and their stepping back high up in is entirely of the 20th Century. Functionally it is ingenious. The building had to combine the necessities of an underground station with a large number of offices. So a large part of the area is one storeyed. The centre tower is 175 feet high, containing lifts, staircases, lavatories etc. It has a square, gradually diminishing top. From the tower extend four spurs. What there is of sculptural decoration is of extreme interest, two large groups by Epstein, 'Day' and 'Night' (East side of North and South wings). E. Aumonier (West and North Wing), A.Wyon (West and North Wing), A. H. Garrard (West Side, South Wing), and F. Rubonovitch (South Side, East Wing). They are considered revolutionary at the time, and Dr Holden had to use all his persuasion to have them accepted. Architectural detail is curiously undecided. The ground floor has granite columns; they are circular piers rather than columns, it is true, and have plain blocks as capitals, but they appear as columns all the same. The windows are upright and have glazing bars reminiscent of Georgian sash window, and the spurs are connected by diagonal arches high up and close to the junction of the tower.
It was not so much the building that caused uproar, it was the sculptures; Epstein's sculptures were vandalised.
Vista
view of the building.
A
remarkable and powerful sculpture "Day" by Jacob
Epstein
Another
remarkable sculpture "Night" by Epstein. Note how this
follows the similar theme of Michaelangelo's Piata
(There is a shop in the building where you can buy photographs of details of the building, including sculptures by Henry Moore and others, unfortunately, they were too high up for me to photograph).
Look
around the building and you will find quite intersting details like this;
almost Mycenean in the design.
This
clock has to be an original interior detail of the building. Note the
sculpted frame around it and the upward it.
The Bridge over the Lake of St James's Park
A post war construction (1956). Although modern, it seems to fit in with the ambience of the place. What makes this construction quite remarkable is that it featured in the opening shot of Sidney Lumet's "The Deadly Affair". The film is beautifully photographed. Although shot in colour, Lumet and his crew make good use of contrast, light and shade. Harry Andrews' Inspector Mendel character and methods predates Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry.
New Zealand House, Haymarket
I can remember this building from when I was a child in 1964. It was so modern and so new. It just seemed perfect. It has not changed. Its beauty lies in its simplicity. It remains unrefurbished.
Ian Nairn in Nairn's London commented:
Full of the small virtues, of the accomodating kind for which one forgo a grand gesture. The eighteen storey block does not spoil any London view; the careful projecting profile of the floor slabs provides an anchor for the perspective views along Pall Mall instead of the facelessness of a glass wall. Nash's Royal Opera Arcade, on the west side, has not only been preserved but doubled in effect, with an extra row of shops. And the view from the roof terrace is superb. The site is as near as London can be - rather like peering from inside Big Ben - and all the expected London monuments come up in turn. But many of them wear unexpected faces : the Admiralty citadel turns out to have grass on the top; Tower Bridge is seen wildly romantic among the forest of cranes. In spite of all the bricks and mortar, the biggest thing in the westward view is London's precious band of green running from St. James' Park through Green Park away to Kensington. This is the central equivalent of the view from Primrose Hill. If that might begin a London visit, this might well be the culmination. It might be worth spending all of one day here, identifying the landmarks, feeling the flux of London's traffic by road and river, watching the rush hour jams and the couples in the park with Olympian detachment; and then going back down into them.
Stainless steel columns.
Large plate glass windows on the first two floors.
New Zealanders may want to check out the High Commission's Web Site
Waterloo Bridge. This was rebuilt after the war. The beauty of this bridge lies in the simplicity of its design.
Review 2007 - Sandi Toskvig, when she had her LBC programme, pointed out that this bridge was built entirely by women; so there you go. It has always been my favourite bridge accross, I guess its femininity appeals to my malenessl.
The Royal Festival Hall
If there were a time capsule of architecture and interior design; The Royal Festival Hall has to be it. It remains completely unspoilt but ripe for modernisation. Its interior design is a wonderful mixture of stone, concrete, flourescent lighting, carpetting, textiles, brass and anything that was available in the early 50's. The interior of the building is an antique as is Opera in Paris; it has not been modernised, so why not leave The Royal Festival Hall alone!?.
Review 2007, sadly the Royal Festival Hall has gone cak. We have a facade of shops in the basement parts, it looks dreadful - as if a chunk of shopping mall had been cut from the provinces and plonked in the front of this grand old modern building.
In fact what has become a once delightful walk along the South Bank has become an open shopping mall. The peace and quiet is disturbed by amplified buskers and idiots who like to bike along the path. There are numerous shops selling tut and tat. This was relatively quiet walk along the Thames, it was away from the traffic - now you may as well attend a Deep Purple concert in 1973.
Staircase,
constructed of wood and brass.
Concrete
columns encased in wood.
Note
the lighting. Flourescent lighting was a huge expression of moderism in
the 50's.
These
lights, however, are quite worthy of note. They seem to be a modernist
representation of the sun.
As
for the carpet. This appears to be late 1960's / early 70's. There is
no other place you will find a carpet with such a design!.
Stone flooring on the basement level. Note the mixture of stone. An abstract mosaic made of some quite large slabs of polished stone.
More interesting lighting.
Plastic shading for the flourescent lighting. Difficult to decide when this shading was installed, possibly 1960's.
Again not sure when this shading was installed, but it also looks 1960's.
Review February 2007:
Sadly, the building has been undergoing much refurbishment work; the whole Royal Festival Hall complex has become a glorified coffee cum book and record and shop. The whole South Bank Complex is a complete nightmare.
More Architectural Photographs >>>>>>>>>>>>
Some interesting Architectural Links:
African Heritage Architecture A really informative web site on modern buildings in Africa. Some great source material is available from this site. Highly recommended.
The Great Buildings Collection This has to be the best internet database on buildings throughout the world. It is comprehensive but very engrossing if you are really interested in buildings. Highly recommended.
Jetset Designs for Modern Living A web site that covers design from 1945 - 75. A great source site, great fun too. Also includes many relevant and interesting links. Highly recommended.