Symbols & Secrets – Page 19 – Walking the City of London

My holiday snaps – Art Deco heaven in Miami!

On 23rd February 2023

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.

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Bollardology!

By The City Gent

On 9th February 2023

In Architecture, Quirky

Oh, bliss, someone has written a book about the City of London bollards.

Odd as it may seem, I’ve always wanted to know more about them and now my curiosity has been satisfied by this wonderful book, Bollardology, by Dr Cathy Ross, the historian and former Director of Collections at the Museum of London.

To suggest that this is just a book about street furniture is not to do it justice. It’s a combination of a fascinating history of the City itself, beautifully written, along with what I can only describe as a bollard love affair. I promise that, if you read this book, you will never look at the humble bollard the same way again. For example, you’ll trace its development from the 18th century to the present day, from when it protected us from rampant coach and horse traffic to when it helps to protect us now from the actions of terrorists. To say I learnt a lot would be an understatement.

If you can, do what I did and pop in to the Guildhall Art Gallery and purchase it at their little shop, or buy it online here – they tell me it’s their current bestseller. It’s an absolute bargain at £12:99. I read it at one sitting and then set out with my camera to track down some examples.

There is a little platoon of bollard soldiers gathered in Idol Lane alongside the beautiful ruined church and garden of St Dunstan in the East …

And surely this one is their commanding officer. Look at the striking City emblem and the 1886 date …

And, the most extraordinary feature of all, it’s hollow …

Here’s the story of this remarkable little artefact as told in Cathy Ross’s book along with extracts from the excellent Look up London blog by Katie Wignall.

Cathy’s sleuthing revealed that in October 1886 the City of London Corporation unveiled a new public urinal at the corner of Gracechurch Street and Eastcheap. This was the original site of the hollow bollard where it formed part of the ventilation system. Here are the loos today – all locked up …

It was hard to find any 19th century images of the public toilet, but you can see the urinal (circled in yellow) on the 1893-96 OS map below.

To further visualise it, there’s a description detailed in Bollardology. It comes from William Haywood, an Engineer and Surveyor who was the City of London’s Commissioner of Sewers (think of him as the Joseph Bazalgette, specifically for the City). He was an extraordinary man and one of the pleasures of this book is finding out more about him (along with his somewhat ‘unconventional’ personal life).

In his report in 1887 he notes there is a ‘large five light lamp standard placed at the centre of the refuge, the base of which forms a ventilating shaft… The other lamp standards and dwarf posts [bollards] placed near the footway curbs are so designed to assist the ventilation.’

Although Katie couldn’t find any 19th century images of the five light lamp standard, she guesses it was similar to the remaining one by the public toilets outside the Royal Courts of Justice …

Five Light Lamp Standard, Royal Courts of Justice | Look Up London

Today only the base of the original large lamp remains and it’s still an attractive bit of street furniture, now painted black and cream …

No record seems to exist as to how the Idol Lane bollard ended up where it is now, about five minutes walk away.

Here’s my personal bollard collection, starting with this semi-circle of 36 lumps of granite installed in 1874 around the west end of St Paul’s Cathedral. They were not called bollards at the time – The Times described them as ‘dwarf, ornamental granite posts’. This part of the Cathedal precinct had previously been closed off by iron railings and the stones marked the new and porous boundary between public and private land – a modernising ‘improvement’ …

The tops of some bollards remind me of a lemon squeezer …

Outside St Margaret Pattens, this is one of a pair dated 1817 …

In the courtyard of St Helen’s Bishopsgate is what is often claimed to be the oldest bollard in the City. Experts identify this as the ‘cascable’ end of an 18th century French naval cannon …

These skinny versions date from 1993 and apparently were often positioned in the spot where parking meters once stood before they were removed …

Some show a fair bit of wear and tear …

From the 1990s onwards the City started taking branding really seriously and the bollards reinforced the fact that you were in a very special part of London …

Moveable versions …

There’s a positive invasion taking place at Bank Junction …

I was surprised to find some wooden versions. These are outside St Mary-le-Bow and date from the 1990s …

These are on Paternoster Row near the entrance to St Paul’s Churchyard …

Unfortunately wooden varieties are very prone to damage …

Standing guard at the entrance to St Paul’s Churchyard, these are probably HVMs (Hostile Vehicle Mitigation bollards) helping to keep us safe …

These HVMs are a bit more obvious …

I think they’re really sinister. They reminded me of the alien robot in the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. Watch the terrific trailer here …

Here colour is used to create a more friendly appearance …

These versions aim to be both decorative and informative …

On a more jolly note, some bollards have been colourfully dressed up to promote the City’s Culture Mile …

Finally, how about this quote from the City of London Corporation Street Scene Manual 2005. The writer gets carried away and waxes lyrical as to how bollards positively added to the gaity of City life :

In parts of the City rush hour ‘bollard ballet’ is performed as office workers dodge both each other and the forest of bollards on their way to and from work.

Bollard ballet indeed!

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Non-religious stained glass.

By The City Gent

On 2nd February 2023

In Stained Glass

I love looking at stained glass and not all of it in the City is religion-oriented even though it may be located in churches.

So here’s my selection. Some have appeared in previous blogs but I hope you enjoy seeing them again.

I’ll start with one of my favourite places, the Guildhall Art Gallery, where these examples appear at the west end. They all relate to City Livery Companies and were created by Stella Timmins to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

The Worshipful Company of Engineers …

The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators …

The Worshipful Company of Gardeners (with Alfred, Lord Tennyson!) …

The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights …

The Worshipful Copany of Environmental Cleaners …

Doctors and nurses who gave their lives in wartime are commemorated in two lovely windows in the church of St Bartholomew the Less.

They were designed by Hugh Easton, following the loss of the earlier windows during World War Two. Easton was an eminent stained glass maker who also designed the Battle of Britain memorial window in Westminster Abbey. The design of the nurse in the window in Westminster Abbey is strikingly similar to that in the window here …

The doctors’ window …

Traditional pub glass in the Lamb Tavern Leadenhall Market …

St Mary Abchurch’s connection with the Fruiterers Company is commemorated by this charming stained glass window …

The Worshipful Company of Glovers of London – True hearts and warm hands at St Margaret Lothbury…

Stained glass windows which date from 1923 at Farringdon Station …

At St Giles Cripplegate there are a number of modern stained glass windows. In the baptistery is the Cripplegate Window, which celebrates the centenary of the Cripplegate Foundation www.cripplegate.org which gives grants, advice and support to local organisations. The Foundation was formally established in 1891 but its origins lie in gifts made to St Giles’ for the poor and the needy dating back centuries. John Sworder made the first recorded gift in his will, dated 2 April 1500, and the head at the top of the window represents him, the first of the pious donors of the parish that we know by name …

On the north wall is a memorial window to Edward Alleyn, the parish’s generous benefactor. The design is the work of John Lawson of stained glass studio Goddard & Gibbs and depicts Alleyn in the centre, as well as the Fortune Theatre (which he founded), almshouses (which he built in the parish and which were destroyed in the Second World War), and St Luke’s Church, Old Street …

At Southwark Cathedral, a few feet from the door, is the magnificent Shakespeare Memorial Window, Designed by Christopher Webb, it was created in 1954 to replace another destroyed in enemy action. It shows characters from the Bard’s plays …

The design uses the concept of the Jesse Tree. Prospero in the central light forms the trunk, with Ariel above and Caliban at his feet …

I’m sure you can spot Falstaff …

In the right hand window we find Lady Macbeth ,,,

Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee …

and Hamlet …

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy …

At the base, the last two of the Seven Ages of Man … …

The sixth age slips into the lean and slippered pantaloon, with spectacles on nose … and his big manly voice turning again toward childish treble … Last scene of all, is second childishness … sans teeth, sans eyes sans everything.

All the characters portrayed in the window are identified in this short article.

Since this year is the 300th anniversary of Sir Christopher Wren’s death, I think it’s very appropriate to reproduce this image of the beautiful ‘Wren window’ in St Lawrence Jewry. It was created in 1957 by Christopher Webb …

The great man is flanked by the Master Carver Grinling Gibbons and the Master Mason Edward Strong. Below the three major figures the window shows various craftsmen at work – bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, stonemasons and two of Webb’s own stained glass artists.

And below them are two more modern figures …

Cecil Brown and Reverend Frank Trimingham study the church plan, with the outline of the footprint of the church in front of them. On each side are the beautifully etched towers of many of the Churches Wren built, along with two different views of St Paul’s Cathedral.

And finally an example of the stunning widows designed by the artist and glass maker John David Hayward in St Michael Paternoster Royal on College Hill EC4, where Dick Whittington was buried in 1423.

I’m sure everyone knows the Whittington legend. He had given up on making his fortune in London but, as he headed home with his faithful cat, he heard the bells of St Mary-le-Bow ring out the words:

Turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London

Well, the bit about him being Lord Mayor is true, and it was four times rather than three, but two of the terms were consecutive.

Here Hayward shows that critical moment on Highgate Hill …

The church bells of St Mary-le-Bow ring out behind him.

One commentator has said he rather resembles a flat-capped Hoxton Hipster – maybe there is an iPad in that bag.

I love the expression on the cat’s face. Perhaps he has seen a mouse …

You can read more about the legend at the wonderful Purr ‘n’ Fur website.

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The Great Tooley Street Fire.

By The City Gent

On 26th January 2023

In Memorials, Social History

Last week I said I would write more about the man commemorated on this plaque and the terrible event that prompted his bravery …

Here’s the memorial in close up …

It records the death of James Braidwood, Superintendent of the London Fire Brigade and reads : To the memory of James Braidwood, superintendent of the London Fire Brigade, who was killed near this spot in the execution of his duty at the great fire on 22nd June 1861.

The inscription is inside a laurel wreath in front of a burning building. A hose snakes from the building over the top of the wreath and coils up at the bottom right while over at the left rests a fireman’s helmet. The imagery includes a fire engine wheel and an axe.

The words on the flat support read as follows : A just man and one that feared god, of good report among all the nation.
Erected by the M. or Southwark Division of the Metropolitan Police.
(Beneath the support)
S. H. Gardiner, New Kent Road

The quote is from the Bible, Acts 10:22.

James Braidwood (1800–1861) …

If you had been in London on Saturday 22nd June 1861, you may well have been tempted to make your way, with thousands of other sightseers, to watch the Tooley Street Fire burn its way from Cotton’s Wharf, which was eventually destroyed, through to Hay’s and other wharfs and warehouses to Tooley Street shops.

Omnibuses were packed: ‘Men were struggling for places on them, offering three and four times the fare for standing room on the roofs, to cross London Bridge‘ and: ‘...every inch of room on London Bridge was crowded with thousands and thousands of excited faces’. Also reported: “Peripatetic vendors of ginger beer, fruit and other cheap refreshments abounded and were sold out half a dozen times over. Public houses, in defiance of Acts of Parliament kept open all night long, and did a roaring trade‘.

It is estimated some 30,000 spectators came from all over the city. By late evening the fire stretched from London Bridge to Custom House. Properties destroyed included offices, an American steamer, four sailing boats and many barges as ‘..burning oil and tallow poured in cascades from the wharfs and flowed out blazing on the river‘.

The following print from the time gives an impression of the scale and ferocity of the fire. The southern tip of London Bridge can just be seen on the right edge of the print …

Image credit: London Metropolitan Archives, City of London: catalogue ref: p5354642

The river is full of boats carrying spectators, and I suspect the watermen of the river found it very profitable to give people a close up view of the fire, although this could be dangerous. Look at the larger boat on the left edge of the print. A fire has started onboard and a figure is seen jumping into the river from the vessel.

The fire as viewed from Tooley Street …

There were a number of casualties during the fire. Five men who were in a boat collecting tallow floating on the river were either burnt to death or drowned when their boat caught fire. A number of men working in the area of the warehouses fell into the river and drowned. Those suffering burns were taken to St Thomas’s Hospital, which also included a man who had his neck broken when the chain from a fire boat was caught around his neck.

The memorial in Tooley Street records the name of the most high profile casualty – the Superintendent of the London Fire Brigade Mr James Braidwood. The jury at the inquest heard that he had been in among his fire fighters handing out brandy and encouragement when the wall fell on him, killing him instantly.

The following report details the circumstances of his death:

‘Mr Braidwood, who had visited the men several times, was engaged in giving them some refreshment, when, all of a sudden, a terrific explosion occurred. In an instant it was seen that the whole frontage of the second warehouse was coming down, falling outwards into the avenue. Mr Henderson, the foreman of the southern district of the brigade, who was standing within a few paces of Mr Braidwood, shouted for all to run. The men dropped their hose branches. Two, with Mr Henderson escaped by the front gateway, and the others ran in the opposite direction on to the wharf where they jumped into the river. Mr Braidwood made an effort to follow Mr Henderson, but was struck down by the upper part of the wall, and buried beneath some tons of brickwork. His death must have been instantaneous. Several of his men rushed to extricate him, hopeless as the task was, but another explosion happening, they were compelled to fly. The sad fate of their chief had a most depressing effect upon all, and, to add to their trouble, the conflagration now assumed a most awful ascendancy’.

His funeral procession …

James Braidwood was buried at Abney Park Cemetery on 29 June 1861.

He left a widow and six children. His wife had already suffered a similar bereavement as a son from a previous marriage had died fighting a fire in Blackfriars Road in 1855 and Braidwood was buried next to him. The funeral procession was almost a mile and a half in length and, as well as the London Fire Brigade, there were members of the City and Metropolitan Police forces, members of the remaining private fire-brigades, along with many prominent persons of mid Victorian London.

As a mark of respect, every church in the city rang its bells. The buttons and epaulets from his tunic were removed and were distributed to the firefighters of the The London Fire Engine Establishment.

Braidwood was a truly remarkable man whose thoughts about fire fighting and, most importantly, fire prevention were way ahead of his time. For example, fire spread quickly throughout the warehouses as the iron fire doors, which separated many of the storage rooms, had been left open. It is believed if they had been closed, as recommended by Braidwood, the fire may have burnt out, avoiding disaster.

I have found researching this episode in London’s history to be absolutely fascinating. If you find yourself in Tooley Street, glance up at the memorial to remember the Great Tooley Street Fire and the Superintendent of the London Fire Brigade, Mr James Braidwood.

Here are my sources – I hope you find browsing them interesting :

A London Inheritance (excellent as usual).

The London Fire Brigade website.

James Braidwood – Pioneer of Modern Firefighting.