Was this London? Once?

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't mind the look of One Hyde Park. I think it is quite striking.

And it is amazing that you manage to grind your politicial axe even when discussing architecture......

To me this looks like racks one might store files on in an impersonal office, or shelves at Halfords

[Stillhomewardbound]

A young boy has dropped his box of Meccano on the London I knew years ago.


Beautiful photo shb but not my London of the mid 20th century. Progress??

I couldn't agree more, Salymap. There's progress, but then there's also brutishness. What I see here does no impress me. It is ugly, grey and overbearing.

[Stillhomewardbound]

Oh no, I can't agree there. The Palace of Westminster is magnificent.

I don't believe with was Barry's Palace of Westminster that was meant, which I agree entirely is something of a wonder. Rather, it was Portcullis House. Got up to look like a collection of of old Northern milltown chimney stacks.

Btw, I believe you are an admirer of the Shard, so, here you go.

I was asked by a friend what filter I had used to create the blue impression. 'None', I replied.

Look at the green of the trees which is true green. so I couldn't / wouldn't have overlayed a particular effect.

There are ingredients that go to make strong photography and biggest of these can be said to be the ambience. Hence, I'm a weather-chaser who on many an occasion has cycled halfway across London for a particular sunset, only to see the sun disappear behind a band of clouds.

As I've said, last night I rushed out to get great sunset shots and got something very different. It's a question of timing and being there at the right time.

[mercia]

I'm certainly glad we've moved on from this style of architecture

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Royal_National_Theatre_London_SouthBankCentre02.jpg

if the British Library wasn't in red-brick I would find it rather grim

http://www.itrentals.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/britishLibrary.jpg

not sure about Portcullis House, it's rather four-square and unrelieved black (are those chimneys functional ?) - but the atrium looks impressive
I would think the Palace of Westminster is a fairly impractical building to work in, don't the inhabitants spend all day walking up and down corridors ?
I like some modern architecture and not others. I don't expect architecture to be stuck in the 19th century any more than I expect other artforms to be.

[Dave2002]

But, it has to be admitted that grotesquerie has come this way before. Although set low down in the skyline I can still the neo-gothic horror that sits on Mincing Lance, Minster Court, and appearing before it the Tower Bridge Hotel. Two very ugly sisters made for each other.





Now, over to Simon Jenkins writing on the subject of London's lost and imperilled views:


https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Si...tions&start=20

shb

Don't you like this one? I don't have a problem with that - the obvious building which seems to be the main subject of this image.

It has similarities with some US buildings, such as in Atlanta, or even New York, though it's much smaller.

[gradus]

Henry George had an idea that might help relieve us of grotesquely over-scaled domineering buildings by levying tax on the use of land but that was a very radical idea, with far more profound implications. Perhaps we should take comfort from the inevitably short life of most of these structures and challenge our young and aspirant architects to devise better models for future city development.

[mercia]

off-topic (sorry) but what do we think of the idea of the Crystal Palace being rebuilt ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442468/Crystal-Palace-rebuild-plans-unveiled.html

[Serial_Apologist]

off-topic (sorry) but what do we think of the idea of the Crystal Palace being rebuilt ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-unveiled.html

Speaking as a local resident, a smaller scale, lower-rise version of the original would be just great. Proposals were put forward by a consortium of local shops and businesses a few years ago, with a strong campaign, as an alternative to the defunct LDA proposals under Mayor Ken - which excluded a reconstructed Palace and instead advocated regimented lines of trees to represent the building , in what has long been effectively a nature reserve - both strongly opposed by the local Crystal palace Conservation Association: the main reason however being the insistence in both sets of plans on flats to be built at 2 or 3 points along the perimeter which would have set a national precedent re residential building in designated parks.



Thanks, mercia - I must have a closer looks at this link.

[salymap]

I think I remember walking with my parents in the old Crystal Palace. I was probably 3 or 4 years old - think it had a floor with big square tiles and trees grew inside.

I certainly remember seeing the fire from my Aunt's Shortlands home a year or two later.

A smaller Palace seems a good idea.

[mercia]

a further link S-A

http://www.bromley.gov.uk/info/200073/parks_and_open_spaces/700/crystal_palace_park-what_next

[Serial_Apologist]

a further link S-A
http://www.bromley.gov.uk/info/20007...park-what_next

Thanks again mercia.

(I take it the Crystal palace Community Park Stakeholders Group aren't extras employed for crowd scenes in Hammer Horror productions!)

[amateur51]

I don't mind the look of One Hyde Park. I think it is quite striking.

And it is amazing that you manage to grind your politicial axe even when discussing architecture......

Isn't that just what you're doing?

There are times when it just pays to say nowt.

[Mr Pee]

Isn't that just what you're doing?

No.

There are times when it just pays to say nowt.

Couldn't agree more.

Anyhoo, moving on, and getting the thread back on track , what's the verdict on this new development at Blackfriars?

http://www.oneblackfriars.co.uk/index.cfm?articleID=1

I am fan of the Shard and think a lot of these new developments make the London skyline much more interesting. However, my first impression of this is that it just looks way too big in contrast to everything around it- not that it's too tall- the Shard has shown that height alone need not be the problem- but that bulge half way up just looks wierd.