Brixton’s Burdensome Barrier Building
If you travel by train through Brixton, then you might have noticed through your windows just to the East of the town, a massive brick barrier.
Architecture
BBC archive of old London programmes
It’s a boring Bank Holiday, so what better than to watch a load of old BBC programmes about London’s buses, buildings and tube tunnels?
TfL’s Head Office to be turned into residential flats
Transport for London has decided to convert its listed art-deco headquarters building into residential flats as it prepares to move east to newer offices.
Photos of the closed part of the Olympic Park
There was a chance the other night to take a brief look at part of the sealed off Olympic Park that is due to open to the general public on Saturday.
Visit the Prefab Museum — while you still can
A post war relic is soon to be swept away. A hidden flatland in a sea of multi-story buildings soon to be elevated by construction. A community rent asunder by a local council.
London Street Views from 1840
Long before Google drove around in camera wielding cars, or Charles Booth’s poverty mapping, or Phyllis Pearsall (didn’t) walk the streets of London, there was John Tallis.
Open Days Announced for the “Middlesex Cathedral”
Open rarely during the summer months over the past couple of years, what was once coined the Middlesex Cathedral is open even fewer days this year, and those dates have been announced.
See the Astonishing Interior of Two Temple Place
A rather eclectic collection has gone on display inside an equally eclectic building that is worth a visit in its own right if you haven’t been before.
Exhibition – The Brits who Built Modern Britain
As a tie-in with the recently completed homage to British architects on BBC4, their spiritual home at RIBA is holding an exhibition of some of their work.
Silvertown’s derelict Tate Institute
Down in Silvertown opposite the mighty Tate & Lyle sugar factories sits a rather forlorn looking building. Run down and neglected, it has the appearance of a large pub, or maybe an old music hall.
The redevelopment of Peckham Rye Railway Station
The area around Peckham Rye railway station is such that if it were a person, it might be described as having a face for radio, a face that only a mother could love, for it is undeniably not a nice looking area at all.
How close London came to being covered in concrete
One of London’s greatest strengths, and in some ways, its greatest curse, has been the lack of a dominating Overload with the power to tear down entire chunks of the city and rebuild it in their preferred style.
My alternative to the planned Thames Garden Bridge
There are plans, as I am sure you are aware for a pedestrian bridge across the Thames in the centre of the city, to be decked out in all sorts of greenery which is aimed to make it look terribly nice and pleasing.
A small garden of calm moments from Oxford Street
On the 9th November 1889, a new public garden was opened just to the south of Oxford Street as part of the clearance of slums and their replacement with social housing for the working classes.
A brutal beauty next to Tottenham Court Road
Just around the corner from Tottenham Court Road sits one of London’s great unmarked pieces of architecture. A building, like so many of its era looks a bit tired and shabby now, but will reward the viewer who stands back to admire the whole.
Great Estates: How London’s landowners shape the city
Dotted around London can be found some of the Great Estates that are the consequence of developments by single minded owners often in Georgian periods. But the Great Estates are not just a historic quirk, but are a still growing phenomena across the city.
Post War buildings celebrated inside the Wellington Arch
Wellington Arch next to Hyde Park has swapped out the display inside the top of the arch bit and is running a short exhibition on how 20th century buildings, often derided have been preserved and in some cases, gained affection.
A look around the new Library of Birmingham
Birmingham has two very large public spaces, separated by the brutalist architecture of the public library. One with the town hall and next to the market and main shopping areas, and on the other side of the library, sits a more artistic quarter with theatres.
Keep up with ianVisits
NEWSLETTER
