As regular readers will know, when I am looking for inspiration I often head east and last week was no exception.
Turning right at the Old Street roundabout I was intrigued to see the words that have appeared above the doors to the fire station …
Dating from November last year, this is part of a homage to the London Fire Brigade which you can read more about here.
There is also a celebration of the Brigade’s new typeface. It’s called Fire Brigade Sans and here’s what it looks like …
A few posters from the exhibition …
I headed south to Rivington Street where I usually find something to photograph. What about this splendid building …
A benevolent angel looks down at us from the corner of the bulding next door …
There’s a typical Dan Kitchener mural …
And various other pieces of work that made me smile …
This drawing high up on a wall looked vaguely familiar …
Then I realised I’d seen a work in the same style in Moor Lane outside the Barbican …
Incidentally, and bizarrely, this ‘crypto heritage’ plaque in Rivington Street celebrates the launch of the cryptocurrency Etherium …
It’s still around if you fancy a risky investment.
This is number 81 Rivington Street …
It displays the coat of arms of the Borough of Shoreditch, More Light – More Power. The twin bodied, single headed lion was taken from the coat of arms of the medieval Lord of the Manor, John de Northampton, second Lord of the Manor of Shoreditch and Lord Mayor of London 1381-1382 …
Adopted in 1900, the motto was inspired by the success of the refuse destructor located where National Centre for Circus Arts is now on Hoxton Square. Responding to the need for street lights, the progressive idea to generate power from refuse was launched in 1897. The energy this generated powered the street lighting across Shoreditch and became a particularly powerful symbol of the progressive Shoreditch policies.
The ‘destructor’ …
Back in Old Street, I admired once more the beautiful civic building that is the old Shoreditch Town Hall which opened in 1866 …
Later in 1904, the extension to the Town Hall included the tower and statue of Lady Progress.
The statue is based on the popular Victorian figure of ‘Hope’, with allusions to both Greek and Norse mythology and uncanny similarities to the Statue of Liberty. Aligning with the symbolic prominence of the refuse destructor and the progression it represented, she is depicted elsewhere in the borough as a beacon of light rising from ashes.
The latin translates as ‘Out of the dust, light and power’.
Old Street Magistrates Court was transformed into a hotel in 2016 (previous temporary visitors included Reggie and Ronnie Kray) …
The eastern half of the building contained a police station …
It included accommodation for a married inspector on the first floor and for 40 single men on the second and third floors. There was a kitchen and mess room along with rooms for storing, drying and brushing clothes and boots. You really could say there was a ‘police presence’ in those days.
The building in 1974 …
On my walk I checked out a few blue plaques. This one is at 333 Old Street …
This one is in Hoxton Square …
Parkinson was the first to describe ‘paralysis agitans’, a condition that would later be renamed after him.
The square also hosts this cutely named cocktail bar …
Walking back home via Tabernacle Street I admired the old street sign for Platina Street …
… along with the metal bollard which has seen a few bumps and scrapes over the years …
If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …
