A small slice of contemporary London architecture. A resplendent blue dorsal fin, fashioned from sleek glass and steel.
This impressive building is just one component in the web of city business premises, which I explored on my recent Open House London jaunt.
Come back for a more detailed exploration this weekend…
London is studded with tower blocks. The most modern glint with steely glass, soaring futuristically into the city’s sky. But peel back the decades and you come across lumbering hunks of concrete, apparently blotting the landscape, stark and unforgiving.
My Open House London whirlwind took me to Balfron Tower in east London, an astonishing residential block built in the early 1960s. This building, from the Brutalist school of architecture, is by no means elegant, but was awarded Grade II listed status in 1996.
There was quite a queue to take a tour around this beast. One resident passed by and declared “there is nothing interesting about this building!”
We were ushered in by a young artist who has a one-bedroomed apartment on the 24th floor. Surprisingly, the lift was smooth and didn’t stink of urine. Her flat, on a bleak walkway, had a pleasing Soviet era starkness about it – and a commanding view.
There is little coziness about this tower block, which looms menacingly over the cityscape. It hasn’t fallen apart yet and is going to be refurbished. I’m a huge advocate of the tower block. They are an eternal source of compelling photography.
For further London tower block action, see:
I love the incandescent glow of these beautiful windows. They are decorated to a sumptuous degree and so effectively illuminated.
This architectural detail was stumbled upon by chance on my Open House London travels around the city. They are in the hall of the Bishopsgate Institute, close to bustling Liverpool Street train station.
The building was designed by Victorian architect Charles Townsend. His other achievements include the Whitechapel Gallery, now adorned with a scattering of golden leaves.
There will be more to come from the buildings of London soon…
This is one of London’s lesser known – and more recently built – landmarks. It’s quite tall, rotund and elegant. I had to perform some extreme neck-craning to achieve this shot, which you can click to enlarge.
It was the first stop on my architectural tour around the city, a weekend in which the public is granted access to hundreds of buildings – and photography is positively encouraged.
I’ll share more in upcoming posts. In the meantime, do you know what this is and which famous place is just a stone’s throw away?…
This building has all the hallmarks of being a lofty place of God or a palace of royalty. Beautiful arches, light flooding through a stained glass window. One of the women on the balcony looks upwards, enraptured.
The other woman, meanwhile, checks her camera. This is The Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand in London, a place where some of the biggest legal cases in the land are contested. Its doors were flung open to visitors, who spent the weekend thronging around its wonderful central hall, taking photographs at every opportunity.
While the Victorian building is magnificent in some areas, in others it’s a place of dusty corridors and has the stench of authority. It was a great opportunity to admire the architecture, huge in scale and created to make you feel small.
