2012 - Looking Back

Nearly the end of 2012 already and after lots of blogging I’ve still a lot to blog about but not the time to do so!

Things have developed well with the ‘PhotoWalks’ program, doing the research and walking the route does take quite a bit of time but has proved to be very interesting. A good program of walks has now been established with additional locations and itineraries being added on a regular basis.

Additional walks have been to the London walks program, one starting at Blackfriars Bridge and ending on Waterloo Bridge via Fleet Street and Aldwich, with the second starting on London Bridge and ending at Bank, via Lombard Street.

Preparing for the walks has been very informative and many interesting buildings and otherwise unseen architectural details have been discovered. My aim is to open people’s eyes Britain’s building heritage and to help them capture the best possible images of what they see.  

Westminster 'PhotoWalk' 17th November

Westminster Itinerary - Charing Cross to Parliament Square

PhotoWalk starts at the base of the Charing Cross outside the station.

Eleanor  Memorial Cross, 1863 designed by E M Barry with sculpture by Thomas Earp, replaces the original cross pulled down in 1647.

Walk along the Strand towards Trafalgar Square, on the right is South Africa House. 1935 by Sir Herbert Baker and Alexander Thomson Scott, decorative carvings by Joseph Armitage to designs by Sir Charles Wheeler.

Cross Trafalgar square observing the Fountains by Edwin Lutyens 1937-9 with figures of Mermen 1948 by Wheeler and Mermaids by W McMillan. (photography is banned in Trafalgar Square!). Ahead is Canada House, 1824-7 with a portico of Ionic Columns by Sir Robert Smirke. Cross over to view Admiralty Arch  (now to be turned into a hotel) 1908-11 by Sir Aston Webb.

Passing  Drummonds Bank, 1885 by George Aitchison in a late Italianate new Palladian style. Now along Whitehall which has a stream of impressive buildings and probably the greatest concentration of Portland Stone faced buildings in any one location.

Due to the great number of interesting buildings along Whitehall and around Parliament Square not all of them are covered on this PhotoWalk, with a second walk looking at the remaining buildings.

First in line is the Old Admiralty Building 1723-6 by Thomas Ripley with a front screen of 1759-61 by Robert Adam. Opposite is 55 Whitehall, 1906-9 by J W Murrey in Edwardian classical style. Then comes the Old War Office Building, 1899-1906 by William & Clyde Young and Sir John Taylor in grand English Baroque.

Passing the Banqueting House and with Horse Guards on the other side of the road, we come to Dover House, 1754-8 by James Paine with a Greek Ionic portico flanked by columns and rusticated wall 1787 by Henry Holland.

Opposite is the’ great white whale’ of the MOD building, designed in 1913 by Vincent Harris but not completed until 1959. Edwardian Imperial with giant columns and Earth & Water sculptures at the entrance by Sir Charles Wheeler (not his best work).

Next along Whitehall are the  Treasury, Cabinet and Privy Council buildings, 1733-36 by William Kent, 1824-27 by Sir John Soane, remodelled and altered  1845-47 by Sir Charles Barry using Soane’s columns and frieze.

Passing Downing Street we come to the first of the two massive Victorian office blocks, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office building 1862-75 by George Gilbert Scott to a ‘florid Italian Cinquecento design’ (Scott’s initial design was in a Gothic style). Then comes the ‘New’ Government Office building (now the Treasury) 1899 by J M Brydon, completed 1912 by Sir Henry Tanner.

Finally a clutch of listed Telephone Kiosks designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, K2 in 1927 and K6 in 1935.