This Wall Has Artistic Importance – Waithman Street, EC4

If you venture up the stairs at the side of 100 New Bridge Street, EC4 (heading for Carter Lane) turn immdiately right at the top into Waithman Street. Here you will find a wall featuring approx 12 panels (could be more than that, I forgot to count them). 

I took these pics back in August 2021 and completely forgot to do anything with them until now, purely because someone told me that this area is due for regeneration. Indeed, these panels might have been removed by now. I will go and check again soon, but for now here are some of the pics I took three years ago showing some of the pleasing repeat patterns that can be created by a limited range of shapes. 

Along the wall there are occasional small plaques that tell us...

Nice eh? It's the sort of thing I would have been mesmerised and inspired by as a child when one of my favourite hobbies was designing repeat patterns on graph paper. Here are a couple of my efforts from age 8/9.

Actually, having dug out that scrapbook, I now see that I have created more bubble pics than any other type. Hmmm... I'll have a think about how include those as part of a future post. 

Mythological beasts and birds at Burlington House

Next time you are walking through the gateway that leads from Piccadilly to The Royal Academy and many other fine societies and institutions that surround the courtyard, stop to take a look at the marvellous carvings on the pillars:

When I took these snaps on Tuesday, I had just attended a fascinating lunchtime talk at The Society of Antiquaries. The lecture was given by Ella Hawkins about who creates biscuits decorated to evoke Tudor fabrics, Victorian wallpapers and excavated sherds. Wow!

On the tiles at George's Fish & Chips shop, 45 Tottenham Lane, N8

At the northern end of Tottenham Lane, on the right and just before the fork where the road meets Church Lane and leads down to the right and Hornsey railway station, there is a fish and chips shop, opposite the old police station buildng. 

The shop doesn't look like much at first glance, being as the exterior is modern plate glass, having lost almost all of its Victorian metalwork and embellishment over the past few decades. You need only to look around at some of the nearby shops to be able to get an idea of how attractive this junction would have been 120 years ago. 

If you venture into George's you'll find some fabulous examples of fin-de-siecle tiles along the lower sections of the walls on both sides, specifically in the small seating area at the left and behind the counter too, albeit mostly obscured by cabinets. But hey, they are there and that's great.

These tiles really show off the colourful patterns of the Art Nouveau 1890s area. The grassy greens, deep golden yellows and peacock blues are absolutely gorgeous. There is also a stained glass panel at the rear which I assume is of the same era, but I doubt it would have been situated exactly in that position when the shop interior was first created. As regards the 'since 1890' claim, I am not sure what is intimated here. The 1901 directory shows this shop as No.9 Rathcoole Parade and the premises of James Brunton, fishmonger. Perhaps George is a descendant of James? Or they simply mean a chippy has been on this site since 1890.

I popped in to check up on the place earlier this month but, though the door was wide open and the place clearly open for business, there was no one about to talk to – I called out 'hello' but got no response and, in a rush to be elsewhere, I simply snapped these pics and sped off. Last time I popped in, ooh about 3 years ago, I'd had a nice chat a man who worked there. He was really proud of the tiles and loved that the history of the place is appreciated by many people who come into admire the original features (and eat the lovely chips!). I didn't ask if his name was George.

Nearby, there are other places that still hang on to their mad patchworks of Victorian glazed tiles. I mean 'mad' in a good way. Personally, I'd never consider putting some of these patterns together except in a catalogue. But the effect is dazzlingly good, such as a few doors along, at 59 Tottenham Lane, on the corner of Harvey Road where there are some lovely vertical panels of mixed tiles that are strangely at odds, yet enhanced and contrasted by, the faded ultramarine paint of Garden Transformations. The 1901 directory tells me this was Lucas & Co, house furnishers. You can also find lovely mixed tile collections surrounding the front doors of many residential properties in the area, as well as some excellent examples of old shop fronts in Hornsey High Street, but I will save those for a separate bulletin.

UPDATE 2023:

Although the premises is still trading in fish and chips, the lovely colourful Art Nouveau tiles by the seating area along the left side wall have been obliterated or removed. The guy I spoke to in there this time (not the same fella as before) said this had been done for Health and Safety reasons. Hmm. Really?!  I dispute that reason being as the tiles behind the counter in the food preparation area are still visible. Sigh.  

Patchwork garages

Just some pleasing patterns and textures today.
Quick snaps I took with my phone of some fences and garages in a little street N19.

Ocean Liners: Speed and Style at the V&A

Last Friday evening I meet my friend and fellow CIGA guide at the V&A to see the exhibiton about the golden age of sea travel.
Oooh!
Gorgeous!
Beautiful!
Wow!
That's on a boat!
Heaven, I'm in heaven...

Check out the compact tea set, a leather clutch bag shaped like a liner, and some gorgeous fabric – the wonderful typographic pattern on a silk blouse and a late-1960s blue suit deemed unconventional/'unsuitable'.

I love the V&A (well, apart from this) – there is always something new to see and, more often than not, it's been there for decades and I just never noticed before.
The V&A is open late on Fridays. That's great for people who can't get there during the day and don't like having to fight with school groups or weekend families. But not so great is the type of music that's played there which seems to pull in a new crowd of bar-goers who hang around the reception desk at the Brompton Rd entrance in front of huge speakers on sticks which blare out bass-heavy rhythms. I reckon most of them don't even wander further than the gift shop. Or perhaps that's the point.
We found the sound levels offensive and hard to dodge as the only way in and out is past that desk (or it was by the time we were leaving). It was a horrible contrast to the swooning tunes of the 1930s.
The type of sound is just wrong for the environment – boom boom boom! It reverberates and resonates with nasty low-level frequencies around the curves of this beautiful building like some kind of migraine. Music is great but, please V&A, keep it acoustic next time. Guitars, strings, pianos, even brass – but not anything amplified. Thanks for listening!
And before anyone starts calling me old and grumpy – I would've said all that when I was 20.

Come and see some Art Deco architecture in North London on my guided walks

The Olympian Way, Greenwich, continued

Ok, so where was I?
We'd given up on the foreshore, walked around the O2, seen some dodgy art and attempted to understand the confusing development 'plans' for the area.
And so we walked westwards to Greenwich proper along the Olympian Way which is basically The Thames Path renamed. The environment changed as we walked. It feels like a war-torn wasteland near the O2. Then there are demolition and construction sites, holding areas for building materials,  various unkempt buildings, abandoned jetties and metal structures once used by lost-gone companies.
West of the golf driving range and the concrete works trees and greenery become abundant, though I suspect that the natural world is not going to be there for much longer... modern gated developments are closing in fast.

Just some nice patterns that I noticed on various walls and fences near the cement works.

The river meets the land near Morden Wharf Road. the willow trees and mossy banks are particularly lovely. And, dotted along the water's edge, we spotted some amusing signs in a seaside-style that hint at what we have now and what's to come; shown here are 'Beauty' and 'Foreshore forearmed'.

And this is what's coming... A Cruise Port. Does this mean lots of big liners docking here spilling out customers/visitors/residents by the day? The big pic at the top is an artist's impression on the blue hoardings that create a creepy tunnel for much of this stretch of path.  And, coming soon, a "New Release of River fronting Apartments". Note either a punctuation error (I suggest a hyphen is missing to make River-fronting and that would explain why only one word starts with a lower case letter), or this is written by someone who can't speak English properly. Either way, Barratt, who are the developers should have checked the sign before it went up. Attention to detail lacking – I wonder if this an omen for the kind of sub-standard buildings we might expect to see here? As you can see from the middle bottom pic, work has started. The last pic shows the forecourt/garden area outside the development sales office. Perhaps they'll set out more of these non-indigenous spiral trees in cubes to tie in with the high-rise homogeneous Lego-like cube homes?

 My final post about this area is yet to come... expect a much lighter subject matter (phew!).

Bankside _ a Southwark Patchwork

A few months ago I was walking to London Bridge from Lower Marsh via Southwark Street.

Just south of Tate Modern, at the junction of Hopton Street I stopped to stare across at the old alms houses which are surrounded on three sides by huge glass monsters*.
I stood and surveyed the view for quite a while and, without moving from that spot, I took a series of photographs to illustrate all the different types of buildings.
Metal, glass, UPVC, more glass, cladding, some Meccano clips and a bit of brick.
This montage of selected images makes the area look really interesting, but in reality the it resembles some kind of architectural testing ground and I don't like it one bit.

  *I am building up quite a collection of these saved, yet smothered gems, so watch this space.

Brains – The Mind as Matter

If you haven't been to the Wellcome Collection – why not??
It's free and there are always wonderfully interesting exhibitions to see there.
On at the moment, until 17th June, is Brains– The Mind as Matter which is about brains. D'uh!
The Wellcome's permanent exhibition is also well worth looking in on; it features all sorts of fascinating and freaky surgical instruments and medically-related artefacts from all over the world.
Find the museum on the Euston Road, almost opposite Euston Station.

Crouch End – Imagined and Observed

That's the name of a photographic exhibition now on at the Original Gallery within Hornsey Library. It brings together a group of local photographers who have taken on the wide-ranging theme of "Crouch End". My friend's photo has been used on the promotional material and features his oft-used big blue sky style.
The free exhibition on until 26th February. It's well worth a look.
Last year I put together a collection of my own Crouch End observations, so below are some more taken with my phone camera one afternoon last October:

The lesser-spotted zebra

Mr Edwards tells me that the zebra crossing recently turned 60.

This type of crossing is an endangered species – because there aren't as many as there used to be; more than 1,000 having been removed in the last five years and replaced mainly by pelican/pedestrian crossings because people need lights to tell them when to stop and start or cross the road. Who needs eyes and a brain eh?!

Here's an article on the subject that appeared in the Metro on 31st October.

And here are some of my photos of black and white stripey things:

Top: Highgate Village, Little Essex Street, Boundary Street, Leyton

Bottom: Greek Street, St Mary Axe, Tooley Street, Acton

Skin deep

Has anybody else noticed the excessive amount of make-up being worn by young girls these days?

Does the foundation they buy come with a free palette knife to put it on and a scraper to remove it? And why do a lot of them wear tinted (tinted?!) products that make their faces look like they've been to the Far East, but not the rest of their visible flesh? And there's a lot of bare skin around lately too, mostly on the wrong legs! And in this weather... brr!

Have you seen the gloss paint look? Slimy-look faces. Not nice.

Actually, it's just occurred to me that it's called foundation because it's supposed to be used as a base for other products... not to be the over-bearing the star of the show!

It's a look that requires a lot of time, effort and money... I bet the cosmetics industry is loving it.

Do men like it? Do they want to get close to all that gunk? Do they even notice?

Though I did overhear some schoolboys on a bus last week discussing their sisters' make-up habits and how they found it unattractive. They used words like 'stupid', 'muck', 'orange' and 'fake'.

I suspect if you ran your fingers down one of these rendered cheeks it would achieve the effect of a textured abstract painting, ploughed field or corrugations.

Here are some pics to illustrate the sort of thing I mean.

See more textures here.

Filthy London

This post is sparked off by an ad on TV that really niggles me; it's for a hand cleaner that comes in a soap dispenser that has a sensor so that you need "never touch a germy soap pump again".

OK... so let's think about this... if you were to directly touch the dispenser, or the bottle, or whatever, then surely this product of theirs will eradicate the 'germs' when you wash your hands!? But how are you going to turn the tap on/off after you have applied the soap?

Actually, how did you get in the kitchen/bathroom in the first place... did you open a door? With your filthy fingers? Oh ugh!

This is all getting so ridiculous.

I recently heard one mother telling her son not to hold the moving handrail on the escalator because lots of people touch it. I don't know what she would do if the thing stopped and the poor kid fell over and hurt himself. Do you think she let him hold on when he got on the tube train? Dunno. But she probably let him wipe his dirty shoes on the seats.

And I heard another woman tell her children, who were sitting in the front seat on the top deck of a bus, not to hold onto the rail in front of them for similar reasons. Yet, when getting off, she told them to hold on tight when going down the stairs.

Top row: Angel tube station, Lavender Soap in Acton, dirty beasts in Fleet Street, Pears' Soap in Highgate Village.

Middle row: Sanitary Brixton, Holloway litter, dusty windows in EC4, manicule near Lea Bridge.

Bottom row: litter in Camden, Sunlight Soap in Highbury, door knocker in Spitalfields, dusty tiles in Old Street.

Wimbledon 2010

There's a tennis tournament on in south London.

I have actually been watching some of it.

As I write this Andy Murray is taking on Rafael Nadal in the second semi final. I have no opinion on that, but I'd like Tomas Berdych to take the championship title final on Sunday after I saw him beat Federer on Wednesday and then Djokivic earlier today. I might even watch the final. Stranger things have happened.

I still haven't watched any of the football though.

Here's a collection of loosely-themed tennis pics:

Top row: Bethnal Green Road, Holloway, Centrepoint, Praed Sreet

Middle row: Kingsway, Kew, Balcombe Street, Kilburn

Bottom row: Gracechurch Street, Westbourne Grove, Well Court, Chenies Street

Maria Nepomuceno and Grayson Perry at the Victoria Miro Gallery

Last week I went a private view at The Victoria Miro Gallery in Wharf Road, N1.

This gallery is always worth popping in to as I think over the years it has had some fabulous shows. This is where, amongst other shows, Grayson Perry's showed 'The Walthamstow Tapestry' and his some of his wonderfully detailed maps based on the Mappa Mundi. His atmospheric and thought-provoking 'Charms of Lincolnshire' show was also there in 2006. Check past exhibitions in theie site for more.

But to the point... Mr Perry was there on the night in one of his colourful outfits, but even he must have felt quite pale and insignificant against Maria's wonderful, almost organic, creations made of rope, straw and beads. I found her use and understanding of colour and fluid shapes to be mesmerising and uplifting.

If you are in any way of a crafty leaning, as I am, then I urge you to go and see her show and be further inspired. It's on until 12th June.

The pics below are of the last show that inspired me in this way; Hyperbolic Crochet at the Hayward Gallery, August 2008, where whole coral reefs had been created using little metal hooks.

Textures and patterns

Whilst I am out and about taking photos of interesting bits of ironwork and street signs, I occasionally stumble upon (walk into?!) an old wall, a dilapidated fence or a building that has lovely effects on it created by peeling paint, scuffed brickwork, torn posters and the like. To view these images individually and find out where each one was taken click here.