The Many Different Faces Of London

[El_Greco]

I havent posted a thread on London on here for quite a while, so to make up for this Im creating the one youre reading now. It will be pretty big and it will be updated every now and then, and in the following posts I will attempt to showcase the many different faces of London ; the beautiful, the ugly, the grand and the eccentric.

London a global, multicultural city with history stretching back 2000 years. A grand, ugly, beautiful, eccentric, lively, chaotic, magnificent city. A city which for most of its history has been at the centre of things, it was the birthplace of many things too and some would even argue that it was London that gave birth to the modern World. Indeed, so much has been written about London that I feel that theres nothing new that I could add, so the best thing to do is to go to the photos.

1. The Palace of Westminster or simply the Houses of Parliament. An icon of London and what better place to start than here? Constructed by architect Sir Charles Barry with Augustus W. N. Pugin an authority on Gothic architecture as his assistant. The construction lasted over thirty years, but in the end it was worth it. What we have now is perhaps the most iconic building in the World.



2. Queen Annes Gate a rather grand street consisting mainly of Georgian terraces and situated to the north of the ugly and noisy Victoria Street. It is interesting to note that just a few hundred metres to the south was located a notorious slum called Devils Acre which was destroyed in 1850-1875. In London the very poor lived next to the very rich. It is still the case in some parts.



3. The Admiralty or one of its buildings called Old Admiralty Building a grand piece dating from the late 19th century. I had the pleasure of visiting it during the Open House weekend, the interiors are breathtaking.....



4. Three Colts Lane in Bethnal Green, a massive Allen & Hanburys warehouse with other industrial buildings. Im not sure what it is used for these days, but it provides nice contrast to the building seen above.



5. Trinity Court on Grays Inn Road, a lovely 8 storey Art-Deco apartment building, just a stones throw away from the elegant and intellectual Bloomsbury.



6. Bedford Square in Bloomsbury. It was built between 1775 and 1783 as un upper class district, however it was mainly settled by intellectuals of all sorts and not the 'leisure' classes as its developers hoped.



7. Quaker Street in a rather quiet part of otherwise lively Spitalfields.



8. Scrutton Street in Shoreditch. This part of London is well known for its 'alternative' culture and has loads of great examples of street art, unfortunately some people see this as 'vandalism'.



9. Greencoat Place a lovely street of modest 19th century houses. Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey) is just around the corner.



10. Piccadilly Circus, no thread of London is complete without it! As all of you already know Piccadilly Circus is famous for its Statue of Eros (1892-1893) and Illuminated signs, first of which appeared in 1910. The place is always full of people.

[El_Greco]

11. Chiltern Street in Marylebone which itself was started to be developed in the Georgian era, however buildings you see in the photo are Victorian.



12. Beck Street in London Fields, Hackney, a World apart from the street above.....



13. Wicklow Street in Kings Cross. Charles Dickens lived not too far away from here.



14. Strand Steps, a scary looking passageway on the edge of the West End. London is still full of such places, for better or for worse.....



15. Strand Lane, this is where the steps lead to, Strand Lane has barely changed since the 19th century. The house above the passageway is an old Watchouse built in what was then churchyard of St Clement Danes to prevent the corpses from being stolen by body snatchers/resurrectionists.



16. 34 Haymarket, Piccadilly. This is the oldest shopfront in London dating to about 17th century.



17. Cecil Court in Westminster and close to the Trafalgar Square. A well preserved Victorian street full of book and antique shops. In March 1961 Elsie Batten, a 59 year old assistant in an antique shop was stabbed to death here. Her murderer, Edwin Bush, was identified and caught within days following the circulation of identikit pictures — the first case to be solved using identikit in the UK.



18. Serle Street next to Lincolns Inn Fields, Holborn. London is often used as a location for movies, this awesome vintage Taxi, make of which I dont know, was being used for one.



19. Columbia Road in Shoreditch. One of many well preserved Victorian working class streets in East London, it becomes the site of Flower Market every Sunday.



20. Old Marylebone Road and its grand Victorian mansion blocks.

[Munichpictures1970]

Wow, amazing pics!

[geoff189d]

Interesting pics. I like the one of Cecil Court. I used to love browsing in the bookshops around that area.

[Bristol Mike]

Great thread El_Greco! Fantastic pictures and information all round. Now I'm in London it's nice to be able to say I know where some of those places are. Looking forward to more!

[JoseRodolfo]

[DWest]

great photos of Londontown.

[Mr Bricks]

Outstanding pics! Your flickr channel is even more amazing.

[christos-greece]

Amazing and really very nice photos from London

[El_Greco]

Originally Posted by geoff189d

Interesting pics. I like the one of Cecil Court. I used to love browsing in the bookshops around that area.

Yeah me too, a wonderful place.

Originally Posted by Mr Bricks

Outstanding pics! Your flickr channel is even more amazing.

I take it youll want more then?

Thank you for your comments, all.

P.S. so does anyone know the make of that taxi?

[arzaranh]

that was really nice

[giovani_red]

really amazing perspective and photography. Thanks for the tour.

[Designer Skyscraper]

Thanks! All your pictures are so beautiful!!!

[Nightsky]

Interesting diversity, I like this kind of threads!

[El_Greco]

Some more.....

21. Charles Square, Hoxton. It together with Hoxton Square are among the oldest squares in London, laid out in the late 17th century. Note the late 60s brick buildings either side of the grand Georgian townhouse.....dont you just like modernism?



22. Royal College of Organists, or used to be until 1991 when The College moved to Birmingham. This wonderfully eccentric building next to The Royal Albert Hall was designed by H. H. Cole and built in late 19th century.



23. Pitfield Street, Shoreditch.



24. Kensington Court Place with its grand late Victorian mansion blocks. I love this sort of housing.



25. Shard London Bridge Tower, designed by Renzo Piano and standing at 310m it will be a magnificent new addition to London skyline.

[Marathaman]

Great pictures, great little historical tidbits.

[Mr Bricks]

Just great!

[El_Greco]

Thanks guys, more photos coming up.....in a moment or two, maybe three.

[Pansori]

Your photos are, as always, rich in color and very interesting.

[El_Greco]

Thanks man! Havent seen anything from you in ages.....time to get your camera out?