Architecture – Page 20 – Symbols & Secrets

My ‘Tower Bridge Experience’.

On 2nd March 2023

I visited Tower Bridge last week and joined the folk paying for and enjoying the Tower Bridge Experience.

I approached from the north and took this image of the modern skyline with the Tower of London in the foreground …

This plaque made me smile. It commemorates the celebration of the centenary of the bridge’s construction in 1994 when HRH Prince Charles attended. As well as HRH the plaque manages to squeeze in the names of : the Lord Mayor, two Sheriffs, four Aldermen, no fewer than 33 Commoners, the Town Clerk and the City Engineer …

The emblem at the foot of the plaque is that of the Bridge House Estates, a fascinating institution that has existed for over 900 years and now does much more than manage the City’s famous bridges. Read more about it here.

If approaching the bridge this way, look out for the lamp standard that doesn’t have a lamp on it …

Under the bridge is a little room that was once used by soldiers guarding the Tower as somewhere to keep out of the cold. This is the cunningly disguised chimney for their coal fire.

Between 14 and 15 million rivets were used to hold the bridge together. There are some nice examples on the bridge approach …

This picture is from the exhibition inside …

Incidentally, the red, white and blue colours date from the Queen’s 1977 Silver Jubilee. It used to be painted a sludgy brown (or ‘chocolate’ if you prefer). The paintwork on the stairwells and girders inside the building is still the old colour …

Some views looking upriver before you enter the bridge building itself …

The ship moored next to the Belfast is the Norwegian warship Nordkapp …

Another interesting City skyline view …

In the foreground is the artificially constructed Tower Beach. Read all about it in my blog entitled A Wander Near the Tower of London.

The exhibition inside has been extensively upgraded since I last visited over 10 years ago.

There are some great films of the City at the turn of the 20th century showing on a loop. This is obviously Bank junction …

Here are a few more examples …

Victorian construction techniques could be dangerous …

Up to 850 people were employed at any one time when building the bridge from 1886-1894 and 10 are known to have died in accidents.

The upper walkway …

There is a section of glass floor (but you can walk around it if you’re nervous!) …

There are great views both up and downriver. This is looking east towards Canary Wharf …

A highlight is, of course, the brilliant Victorian engineering that was created to operate the bridge lifting mechanism. When it was built it was the largest and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever completed (‘bascule’ comes from the French word for ‘seesaw’).

Two giant giant boilers made the steam to power the engines …

The stokers had to shovel about 3,000 kilos of coal every day for which they were well rewarded, earning between £25 and £30 a week, a good wage in the 1930s. Many, according to the commentary, saved enough to buy their own homes.

The pumping engine machinery is beautiful …

As one might expect, there is a Tower Bridge cat. It’s called Bella and you can buy an appropriate memento …

I did resist the temptation.

All in all, a great ‘experience’, highly recommended.

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

My holiday snaps – Art Deco heaven in Miami!

By The City Gent

On 23rd February 2023

In Architecture, Art Deco

I usually only post my holiday snaps on Instagram but I’m making an exception this week after my visit to Miami South Beach. This is partly because I know I have a number of Art Deco fans among my subscribers, but also because I was just so impressed with what has been retained and restored in the Ocean Drive district where we were staying.

Here are views looking north …

… and south …

Here are my favourite buildings and what I have been able to find out about them.

The McAlpin Hotel has been described as follows: One of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in Miami with its perfectly symmetrical design and eye-catching Miami pastel hues of pink and turquoise. Look for the cute face formed in the center of the building by three windows and the dividing lines. It was designed in 1940 by Lawrence Murray Dixon, considered one of the great minds in the Art Deco movement …

In the evening …

Next door, and by the same architect, is the Ocean Plaza, built a year later …

It also is prettily illuminated at night …

Built in 1937, the Leslie Hotel is described as follows in the architectural guide book : Tripartite symmetry on primary facade; Vertical racing stripes; Eyebrows; Large signage of hotel name; Ziggurat parapet roofline; Minimal additional ornamentation.

I like the use of the term ‘eyebrows’, so appropriate …

The Cavalier South Beach Hotel was one of the first hotels ever to be built on Ocean Drive and was designed by architect Roy F. France in 1936 …

‘Unlike most Art Deco buildings in the area, using horizontal lines as the main feature in their design, the Cavalier bucks this trend by going for a more vertical style. The decorative stucco friezes outside the building draw your eyes upward. As a result, the hotel looks strikingly different from the nearby structures’ …

And now four hotels designed by Henry Hohauser.

The Penguin was built in 1948 …

Cute penguins try to entice you in …

Then there’s the Congress Hotel (1936) ..

The decoration by the door is a nice touch …

Also by Harry is The Crescent (1938) …

‘It has relief decoration, a kind of railroad track design, that cuts vertically through the windows and continues to outline the top as well as the circular discs that add a geometric motif’ …

And finally, by the same architect, The Cardozo (1939) …

Built in 1939, the hotel was named after Benjamin Cardozo, one of the first Jewish jurors appointed to the US Supreme Court …

The nearby Carlyle looks rather unusual …

The architectural guide book says : ‘A mainstay of Miami’s Ocean Drive, The Carlyle represented an evolution of the Art Deco style that had dominated architect Richard Kiehnel’s previous works, while still retaining standards like the rule of thirds and elegant curvatures nestled among sharp geometry.

Opening in 1941 with a sparse colour palette of white and sea foam green, the Carlyle is a significantly more understated and nuanced take on the bright pastel colorways seen on other South Beach hotels like The Pelican’ …

The Winter Haven Hotel – here’s another excerpt from the Guide Book : The Winter Haven Hotel … was designed by Albert Anis and opened in 1939. Taller than the typical South Beach Art Deco hotel, it still has the typical tripartite front and extended eyebrows around the corners. The notched central bay includes even the windows. A canopy supported by fluted columns accentuates the front. The upper stories above the canopy are dramatically supported by these heavy fluted columns’.

These are just a few examples of the Art Deco delights of Miami. They were for a long time under serious threat of demolition but were rescued by the efforts of a wonderful, tenacious lady called Barbara Baer Capitman who is commemorated with this sculpture …

A wander around Whitecross Street and Old Street (plus my old record collection!)

By The City Gent

On 16th February 2023

In Architecture, Art, Commerce, Memorials, Religion, Social History

To start with I lingered among the street-food stalls that appear every weekday and seem to do a roaring trade now that City workers are back (even though many of them only come in Tuesdays to Thursdays).

My favourite stand …

Lots more to choose from …

Some are award winners!

Spring by Jimmy C – nice to see this mural without cars parked in front of it …

Miaow!

More street art …

One of my favourites ..

Made me smile …

The following words in italics come from the St Luke’s Conservation area document. The images are mine.

Central and pivotal to the conservation area St. Luke’s Church, dating from
1733, designed by John James and Nicholas Hawksmoor, is one of London’s
most important churches.

The church is now refurbished as a rehearsal,concert and education centre for the London Symphony Orchestra. The unusual obelisk spire is a major local landmark, with important views downWhitecross Street.

Surrounding the church is the churchyard and burial ground, now a public open space, with fine plane trees, railings and tombs.

Fronting onto these spaces are several important groups of Georgian and Victorian buildings which are of architectural and historic interest and which contribute to the setting of the church.

There is a tomb in the churchyard which is often described as the family tomb of William Caslon (1692-1766) …

He was the first major letter founder in London and, nearly three centuries later, remains the pre-eminent letter founder this country has produced. Before Caslon, there was little letter founding in Britain and most type was imported – even Shakespeare’s First Folio was printed with French type. But Caslon’s achievement was to realise designs and produce type which have been widely used ever since. And it all happened here, around the eastern fringes of the City of London. The Caslon family tomb stood just yards from where William Caslon started his first letter foundry in Helmet Row in 1727.

Here is a specimen of his typefaces from 1734 …

There is a special edition of the *Spitalfields Life* blog devoted just to him – *William Caslon, Letter Founder*.

However, when I looked more closely at the tomb inscription, the name I saw was Thomas Hanbey …

A mystery!

But here’s a quote from The Typefoundry blog of December 2007 (my emphasis) …

‘T. B. Reed … wrote that the Caslon tomb was kept in repair by a bequest from Mary Hanbey, daughter of William Caslon I, who died in January 1797. In fact it is clear from her will that the present tomb, which she paid for, replaced the original monument of the Caslon family, and was dedicated to her husband Thomas Hanbey, who had been born in Sheffield and died in 1786. He was a Liveryman of the Ironmongers’ Company and Master of the Company in 1775 …’

In any event, hopefully the remains of the remarkable Mr Caslon are still there somewhere, so I shall keep my tribute to him in this blog.

The church spire was topped by an unusual weather vane depicting the head of a dragon with a fiery comet-like tail. Apparently this was misinterpreted locally as a louse, and by the mid-20th century had gained the church the nickname ‘lousy St Luke’s’ …

Parish Boundary bollard for ‘St Luke’s Middlesex’ …

Walking east along Old street, look up for the Salvation Army ghost sign …

‘Hostel for working men. Cheap beds and food’.

And finally, number 116, now appropriately renamed Stylus, used to be the Margolin Gramophone Company factory …

They manufactured the Dansette record player – a name very familiar to us baby-boomers …

I had a portable one just like this …

Cool!!!

In those days I could pop some of my vinyl collection into a handy little carrying case and take it when visiting friends. And, guess what, I still have it! …

And there are still records in it …

It was my mum who liked The Bachelors, honest.

This was a very controversial 1965 hit around the world …

Listen to it and you will see why. It was the time of the Vietnam War and the year when Martin Luther King organised a march from Selma to Birmingham, Alabama, which began on 7 March 1965 with around 600 marchers taking part. When the marchers reached the outskirts of Selma they were attacked by state troopers and local police.

Here’s a link to the recording along with video footage.

The Wikipedia link about the song can be found here.

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

Walking the City of London

Category: Architecture Page 20 of 83

My ‘Tower Bridge Experience’.

My holiday snaps – Art Deco heaven in Miami!