Architecture – Page 6 – slightly weird

20th August 202122nd October 2021

Clapton Terrace and Woodberry Downs

Friday, 20 August 2021

I won’t lie. I have very little interest in countryside. This usually flabbergasts people. How can I not love it? I get the same reaction as when I say I’m not interested in pets. I must surely be subhuman, a monster!

It’s not that I can’t enjoy being ‘in nature.’ I love looking at mountains and hills, I love the ocean (not lying on the beach, though)…but I’m most comfortable in cities. Not the super noisy commercial parts, but where I can see buildings and people and all things urban (and hopefully not sub). I don’t even like parks or public gardens. I’m fine in the countryside for short visits, but I tire easily and don’t feel like myself. So I’ll stop being defensive and say that’s just who I am.

However, Lisa and I were meeting for lunch and she suggested we go to the Woodberry Wetlands and find something there. Coincidentally one of my favourite local places had been advertising a second location – at Woodberry Down. Perfect.

I took the bus to Lisa’s place. I love the buildings she lives in. They are set back from the road opposite Clapton Common in a row called Clapton Terrace. It’s not known exactly when the terraced houses were built but the oldest ones show in a map from 1774 and one house has a plaque dated 1760. They were probably lived in by wealthy family who would have had stables at the back. These are listed buildings and haven’t changed very much.

At the end of the terrace (at number 1) is St Thomas’ Church. The first church was built some time between 1773 and 1777 and was initially in a large fenced garden. It’s been extensively altered and in 1873 the whole of the interior was remodelled. These days it’s a plain and solid looking Anglican church with a fairly active presence and congregation in the mostly Jewish neighbourhood.

I haven’t really become used to being driven in a car in London. It feels alien. There are differences other than the obvious oddities of being on the left. The cars are small and they seem to drive quickly. There are no stop signs and there are amber lights before green and red ones. Drivers seem more skilled, able to negotiate sharper turns, narrower roads, and dodging pedestrians who cross the road at random – not quite slowing down to do so but somehow managing it. And Lisa drives me confidently over to Woodberry Down.
I was really surprised to see the usual North London architecture give way to a very modern area. And our target, 215 Hackney, was along a modern street.

The original 215 Hackney is – not surprisingly – at 215 Stoke Newington Road in Hackney. This location is their second and this was my third visit, but only the first to this new location. It’s much larger than the original, but mostly the same middle Eastern influenced menu. I had the Jerusalem breakfast, which I chose for the variety of things on the plate.

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12th August 20218th September 2021

Exploring Broadgate

Thursday August 12, 2021

Every time I’ve gone to Liverpool Street with Krish (who goes on to Guys) I’ve meant to check out the new shops they’ve built into the Broadgate exit from the station. Before, it was a shop-lined walk back to an open area where you could sit on the steps and enjoy your lunch. Inside the Broadgate circle were some popular chain cafes – places I’d think of eating and then was put off by queues and prices. In that respect, it hasn’t much changed.

Now from the back of the station where you’d walk at ground level to Broadgate, you can go an alternate route to an upper level — up the escalators to some fancy new shops, look out at Old Broad Street from the top and circle around to Broadgate Circle where it’s expanded to some upper cafes where I’m plagued by queues and prices! Somewhere in my head I’m thinking maybe it always was here. Such thinking can give me a headache though, so I’ll just say that, if it was always there, it’s been refreshed. It’s open, bright and very, very different than the old station roads of Liverpool Street and Bishopsgate.

Map of Broadgate walk. The yellow are the Broadgate pedestrian areas, and the red is my outside walking route

On the overground — Hackney Downs to Liverpool Street – eight minutes as a rule. Mask wearing for most in the overground

Kinder Transport — Für das Kind, the Kindertransport memorial inside the station by the tube entrance

Walking towards Broadgate – at the back entrance to the station

Escalators to the upper level of Broadgate, Old Broad Street, and the Elizabeth Line entrance. The shops that used to line the left hand side of this lower level are all gone

Looking up to the top level of Broadgate shopping

Looking out towards Old Broad Street from upper level Broadgate shopping. The Elizabeth Line entry is towards the left

Top of the escalators at Broadgate shopping level. If you look straight ahead you see the bus arrival station

Looking straight ahead is Broadgate Circle

Shopping ahead before entering Broadgate Circle

These two photos show the wide area before Broadgate Circle and the construction continuing — These two photos show the wide area before Broadgate Circle and of the construction continuing

A little something about Broadgate – it’s a hub of office buildings linked by public squares located on the original site of Broad Street station (closed in 1986) and beside and above the railway approaches into Liverpool Street station. It covers 32 acres and brings the world of finance together with food, retail and culture. 19 million people come here to work, and to shop, dine and be entertained in the mainly-pedestrianised development. Building started in the mid to late 80s. Broadgate Circle was completed in 2015, not so long ago.

Leaping Hare on Crescent and Bell statue by Barry Flanagan in Broadgate Circle

Inside Broadgate Circle — Broadgate Circle from this level is like looking at an amphitheatre and from up here you don’t imagine the activity just below

View of Broadgate Circle with Finsbury Avenue Square in the background

I considered each fast food place. The dim sum was motioning, the poke bowls were fascinating, but I moved on towards Finsbury Avenue Square, an area I didn’t recognise as having seen before. To get to it I had to walk in a seemingly narrow area by an interesting metallic structure.

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8th August 202111th August 2021

Whitechapel and Stepney walk

Sunday, 8 August, 2021

We were walking along New Road a few weeks ago when Krish said, ‘Look, there’s a porcupine.’ Only it wasn’t. What it was, it turns out, is a pod, an education centre, that represents a neuron cell, designed by Will Alsop.

Inside is a ‘science education space.’ I found all of this out after looking online to see what was going on here at the Centre of the Cell in Whitechapel. I’m not sure how I’d feel being inside it.

We knew right away that each ‘spine’ was a light filament and guessed correctly that at night this must be a beautiful sight with the lights all glowing. When the clocks go back and the nights are longer, we’ll go back and see it.

We were heading down to Lahore Kebab House in our eternal search for a great biryani. I waited inside for it, while Krish scouted around outside. On our way out we saw Shalamar Kebab House, the same name as the place on New Road that we buy kebab. That’s when I saw the old sign for Hessel Street under the new one. That’s a street name I’ve heard many times. It was once home to the main Jewish East End market specialising in the slaughtering and koshering of chickens. It was then called Morgan Street and there are many stories here.

Hessel Street is named for Phoebe Hessel who famously dressed as a man and fought as a private in the West Indies and Gibraltar, and was wounded in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. She’s buried in St Nicholas’ churchyard and was said to be 108 when she died.

No time to linger and explore Hessel Street – and I’ve since seen some interesting facts about Umberston Street where Lahore Kebab House is – but yet again something for another day.

Impressive building on Commercial Road — We saw this impressive building along Commercial Road. So close to the end of our journey (or so I thought) I couldn’t face going to explore but I’d love to know its history

Heading along New Road again to catch our bus home, we saw some interesting houses. It’s been some time since I walked past them. I try to imagine what they would have been like a hundred years ago.

Salvation Army Plaque — 23 New Road. The inscription reads: The first indoor meeting of the mission which became The Salvation Army was held here on 3rd September 1865

Face above door, New Road — See the face above the door at 33 New Road? I don’t know who it is but the houses date from the 1780s along here

This little caption shows me that there is probably something to say about every house in the area. I’m humbled by it, especially in a blog where I promised myself to not get too longwinded on history or dates.

Despite wanting to get on the bus and home, Krish asked if I could walk further and I thought I could. My thinking included that I would catch the bus from the hospital, but somehow we kept walking. I think I lost track somewhere.

At the back of the Royal London Hospital, walking towards Stepney, the clocks have already turned back – to many decades ago, to the streets I grew up on. Among the newer homes, are the old terraced homes from the 1800s. As a child, I don’t remember giving our house much thought – I’m sure I didn’t think it dilapidated. I even remember being about to see the date it was built etched into the door mantle. I wish I had photos of it, but somewhere in my memory I’m thinking 1837 … as a child I knew our house was over a hundred years old, so that might even be right. In those days a hundred years felt like a thousand.

Sylhet Nights — ꕷ𐒋ℓȟēԵ ÑÌဌȟԵʂ ‘𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐥’ 💚❤💚 Authentic Bengal Dishes! (I stole this from Instagram, irresistible)

A mysterious black facaded building on our walk. I can’t find it on the map, but I’m still looking for the story

On Cavell Street, it’s a typical East End day

On Ashfield Street, at number 91, we spotted a plaque.

I’m somewhat determined to not get to historical and date-y here but I love anything to do with Jack Cohen because of his Hackney history. Jacob Edward Kohen ( known as “Jack”) was born in Whitechapel, London, in 1898. His father Avroam Kohen, was a tailor and immigrant Russian Jew. Avroam made uniforms during WWI and life got better for the family. Jack joined up and when he got his demob pay he bought up surplus NAFII food and sold them on Well Street Market. One of the things he sold was packs of tea from Mr T. E. Stockwell – this gave birth to Tesco. Accidentally, Jack had created the brand that exists till this day. He created self-service shops, opened his first supermarket in 1956 and died in 1979.
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2nd August 202117th August 2021

Monument and stewed cheese

Monday, 2 August, 2021

I have yet to exhaust the area around Cornhill. It would be easy to feel exhausted, to be fair. It’s like burrowing down in the earth, only to feel that you’ll never reach centre. Except that this burrowing is exciting, finding sparkly minerals as I go and part of me hoping there actually is no centre. I don’t have a clue how many days or hours I’d need since an inch away there’d be another countless layers of earth to burrow…I’ll just wish instead for a hundred more lifetimes, if that’s enough. Perhaps 100,000. So buckle up, this will be another long one.

My plan today was to see Pudding Lane and the Monument and then meet Krish. I went from Liverpool Street Station to Fenchurch Street on a grey day when I knew the photographs might not be as sparkly. In fact, London when it’s grey is just London, so best to capture it in its relaxed state.

From Fenchurch Street, I set my destination but I can’t resist an alley and I saw one that was quite wide, only loosely an alley, and thought it might be an interesting shortcut when I saw what looked like a pub at the bottom and a promise of another exit, so not a dead end.

Towards The Ship — Off of the bus and down an alley, with a glimmer of a pub at the end

But I was headed to Pudding Lane.

Pudding Lane is a small street in London, widely known as the location of Thomas Farriner’s bakery, where the Great Fire of London started in 1666.

This is where it’s said the Great Fire of London started (on 2 September 1666) at Thomas Farriner’s bakery, the King’s baker. It was on the eastern side of Pudding Lane, one of the first one-way roads in the world in 1617. Pudding wasn’t a sweet thing. It’s what the butchers called the offal that they took down to the river to the waste barges.

This sounds ‘romantic,’ but Pudding Lane today isn’t quaint or anything of the kind. Instead it’s a rather barren narrow street with some boring office building on either side. I was so unimpressed that I didn’t see the plaque to the bakery and fire that Google assures me is there. That teaches me to look more closely or do a little bit of research before I leave home.

Opposite where the bakery stood, is the Monument (The Monument to the Great Fire of London.) It’s 202 feet (52M) high and it was built that high to mark the bakery site, 202 feet west. It was designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke – a Doric column topped with a gilded urn of fire. (The Golden Boy of Pye Corner marks the spot where the fire was stopped, near Smithfield. See my blog that mentions it.) It’s closed now but inside there are 311 steps leading up to a viewing platform. At one time it would have had a great view of the river and The City.

Standing at the west side of the Monument at the wonderfully named Fish Hill, to the north is Monument Tube station and to the south is the river and St Magnus The Martyr church on Lower Thames Street. I haven’t been there for years but inside there’s a four metre model of the old London Bridge, and outside some masonry thought to be from the bridge.

I hadn’t been this close to the Monument for over a decade and I was amused by stone benches, which were engraved with the rhyme of ‘London’s burning.’ When I was a child, we would sing this in rounds, but I’m quite sure I had no idea at the time that it referred to the Great Fire. It was just fun to sing. As well as the benches there was a drinking fountain nearby with the rhyme engraved on a metal plaque.

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23rd July 202129th July 2021

The Royal Exchange and a quick stroll through Leadenhall Market

Friday, 23rd July (with the 13th briefly), 2021

The distance from Hackney to the Royal Exchange and Cornhill

On my second visit to Cornhill, I decided that with only one goal (St Peters) I’d start off with a visit to the Royal Exchange. I’m pretty sure it was closed for a while since it’s a collection of high end shops and a Fortnum and Mason’s restaurant. The view of and from the main entrance has always been one of my favourites in The City.

Reflections at Wormwood Street — Even before I’d got off the bus, I was engaged with this view through the bus window, a very clear reflection of the Old City on a New City glass front

I took the bus from Liverpool Street Station intending to get off just after the intersection, but the stop was quite a distance west. I stopped right outside the Bloomberg Arcade and it would have been tempting to spend some time there too, but if I don’t focus these days, my main destination slips my grasp. Best to hurry on, eyes averted from all the photo opps, and head directly for – in this case – the Royal Exchange.

Mary Harris Smith was an accountant and entrepreneur. She became the first woman to complete the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales qualification but was denied membership because she was a woman. This plaque is on the City of London Magistrates’ Court

St Stephen Walbrook, by Bloomberg Arcade

I almost did it but I chose to travel on the back streets – Bucklersbury, St Stephens Row and Mansion House Place – and got a tiny bit distracted along the way…

Hawksmoor’s St Mary Woolnoth – a clumsy looking church with a very ornate gilded gate. The site has been used for worship for at least 2,000 years. Partially destroyed in the Great Fire, it was repaired by Wren and rebuilt by Hawksmoor after it was found to be unsafe. It reopened in 1727. It’s used by London’s German-speaking Swiss community, and is the official London church of British Columbia, Canada

Lombard Street runs between King William Street and the Royal Exchange. It’s a lovely curved narrow street that I must look at more carefully soon

The Royal Exchange is a fantastic building. It looks so impressive and when I first stepped inside many years ago, I was surprised to see that it was really a shopping mall, but a high end one with Tiffany’s, Hermes, Aspinall, Jo Malone, and Fortnum & Mason occupying some of its space. This year it is celebrating its 450th anniversary.

There’s a lot of history in this building so here are some of the highlights.

The original Royal Exchange, a trading floor, was opened by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571. Thomas Gresham, an English merchant and financier, added two additional floors of shops to the original trading floor creating Britain’s first shopping mall in 1660. Only six years later the Great Fire destroyed the building and in 1669 a second site was opened this time with merchants and brokers. In 1838 it was again destroyed by a fire on Lombard Street. In 1844 Sir William Tite won an architectural competition to design the third (and current) Royal Exchange. He reverted to the original layout and included an imposing, eight-column entrance inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. The building was officially opened by Queen Victoria in 1844.

To more modern times – in the 1980s, The Royal Exchange briefly became a trading floor again, and the roof was replaced. In 2001 the Grade I-listed building was extensively remodelled by architects Aukett Fitzroy Robinson, and was transformed into a luxury shopping and dining destination. Though an entirely different building from his original design, the modern-day The Royal Exchange pays homage to its founder in its gilded copper grasshopper weathervane – a symbol taken from the Gresham family crest.

Grasshopper! — The weathervane with a grasshopper, to honour Thomas Gresham (taken by Krish, the tall one!)

The Royal Exchange entrance is very beautiful — The entrance is very beautiful

If you stand at the entrance, there’s a great view towards central London. Right now it isn’t as wonderful as it was. So much is lost by Fortnum and Mason’s bow to the pandemic outdoor terrace and its patio umbrellas.

If the exterior is impressive, the interior is just as eyecatching, if not more. The F&M colour scheme rules these days and some of the shops haven’t reopened since closing for the first lockdown, but the overall effect is beautiful.

Fortnum and Mason tea in one of its boutiques

Looks so Italian! — If Gresham was inspired by Belgium, the overall feeling to me is Italian. I think I could be in a grand galliera in Milan or Turin

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