Lost London

[El_Greco]

Originally Posted by Mr Bricks

Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on here

Well its for safety, obviously. If the stuff wasnt there then there would be anarchy on the roads - drivers going all over the place and the wrong way, people falling over and so on, just ask NCT, hell tell you.

[Langur]

^ Yes actually. This is what happens when you remove the "clutter"...
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/t...s-7765917.html

[Mr Bricks]

Originally Posted by NCT

1st and 3rd are quite normal by Britishstandards

There. Fixed it for ya. This would never happen on the continent. As a driver I would be completely puzzled, as a pedestrian horrified.

I find it tragic that British drivers can't read.

[El_Greco]

Originally Posted by Langur

^ Yes actually. This is what happens when you remove the "clutter"...

No big deal tbh, once they get used to this things will get back to normal. Although the driver outrage is quite funny, the city does not belong to them, pedestrians are not a mere background noise. Thankfully, as this exercise shows, things are beginning to change.

[NCT]

Originally Posted by Mr Bricks

There. Fixed it for ya. This would never happen on the continent. As a driver I would be completely puzzled, as a pedestrian horrified.

I find it tragic that British drivers can't read.

Don't talk nonsense. No-entry signs are standard fixture across Europe.

This junction looks far more messy:

http://goo.gl/maps/pLWp

[Mr Bricks]

Originally Posted by NCT

Don't talk nonsense.

The irony

Originally Posted by NCT

No-entry signs are standard fixture across Europe.

Yeah, but not forrests of them.

Originally Posted by NCT

This junction looks far more messy:

http://goo.gl/maps/pLWp

No it doesn't, however, that is not the point. The point is that in London, and indeed in all of Britain, one can fin such horribly messy places. It's the norm. You can find such places on the continent, but they are rare. Small lanes and alleys like the ones I posted should never be that cluttered. Never. That pic you posted is a wide and busy road.

[NCT]

Originally Posted by Mr Bricks

Yeah, but not forrests of them.

1 and 3, that's not a forest.

No it doesn't, however, that is not the point. The point is that in London, and indeed in all of Britain, one can fin such horribly messy places. It's the norm. You can find such places on the continent, but they are rare. Small lanes and alleys like the ones I posted should never be that cluttered. Never. That pic you posted is a wide and busy road.

What you posted isn't small lanes and alleys. It might be a fairly quiet junction but complex nonetheless. The roads are wide enough to attract rat-runs but too small to handle the potential flow, that's why the junction is restricted in that way.

Where there's a need for channelisation road markings, signs and hard engineering are used, in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. Britain might be the more obsessed when it comes to health and safety, but the difference is marginal.

[Mr Bricks]

Originally Posted by NCT

1 and 3, that's not a forest.

One would be quite enough.

Originally Posted by NCT

What you posted isn't small lanes and alleys. It might be a fairly quiet junction but complex nonetheless. The roads are wide enough to attract rat-runs but too small to handle the potential flow, that's why the junction is restricted in that way.

Where there's a need for channelisation road markings, signs and hard engineering are used, in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. Britain might be the more obsessed when it comes to health and safety, but the difference is marginal.

You actually believe this mindless drivel yourself???

There is nothing complex about it. Nada. Sure it is complex now, but that is only due to excess clutter. Like when they were improving the junction at e&c in London. Instead of a sensible t- junction they planned a slighly less confusing but still messy and completely idiotic one to replace it with. I think you and Langur are the only ones in the uk sention who do not recognize the clutter/planning problem. Keep fooling yourselves.

[delores]

what a loss the old Marshall & Snelgrove was, and they built the shitty looking debenhams instead...jeez

[Tubeman]

Can we just get back to 'Lost London' and ditch the very tiresome debate about street furniture please?

[kerouac1848]

Originally Posted by Langur

^ Yes actually. This is what happens when you remove the "clutter"...
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/t...s-7765917.html

There is nothing in there about road anarchy though, it's just drivers getting stung for thinking they can park there due to the removal of the double-yellow lines. The ES is also clearly bias as they have published scare-mongering stories on Exhibition Road without a hint of objective reporting, plus 'balmy council robs your pocket' narratives are popular stories with the press anyway.

The office I work in is located in this area (90 secs from the back of the British Museum) and I walk up one of the streets which has been completely cleaned, so-to-speak, and it looks good, way superior to some other nearby streets. In fact, the Western side of Rus. Square looks so much better now they've removed the pointless island and widened the pavement.

[WallyChops]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

Can we just get back to 'Lost London' and ditch the very tiresome debate about street furniture please?

Well said. This is a brilliant thread (hence the near half-million views), but it could do with getting back to cataloguing the many depressing images of Lost London.

As worthy a topic as it is, maybe the time has come for all this bollards to shift to a separate thread.

[hifive605]

Originally Posted by WallyChops

Well said. This is a brilliant thread (hence the near half-million views), but it could do with getting back to cataloguing the many depressing images of Lost London.

As worthy a topic as it is, maybe the time has come for all this bollards to shift to a separate thread.

I concur, get rid of excess signage, smarten up whats essential - end of debate

[WallyChops]

Back to images of Lost London - this one shows how the area around Guys Hospital has changed beyond all recognition.

It's taken on St Thomas Street looking towards Borough High Street - from Debra Gosling's new book on Bermondsey & Rotherhithe Through Time.

[mouldss@hotmail.co.u]

Beauty and the beast even the shard not very photogenic in that picture.

Reinvigorating the City lost original roof and features restored.

[IMG]http://i49.************/21953z5.jpg[/IMG]
The building is very dirty as well.

[jamie1371]

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[Mr Bricks]

Originally Posted by WallyChops

Back to images of Lost London - this one shows how the area around Guys Hospital has changed beyond all recognition.

It's taken on St Thomas Street looking towards Borough High Street - from Debra Gosling's new book on Bermondsey & Rotherhithe Through Time.

Hey at least the railings are still there!

Shame about the lamppost.

[joamox]

A couple of before-and-now photos



Carlton Club, Pall Mall. The club moved to the current site at St James' St, since the old premises had been destroyed in an air raid during the Second World War. However, the facade above was removed in 1923-24, because the stone dressings were disintegrating.



This is the how the building looked before it was destroyed in the war. The preveious Venetian-inspired facade was from 1856. The original clubhouse, by Smirke, was built in 1835.



Embankment. Portcullis House was commissioned in 1992 and opened in 2001. It provides offices for MP's and staff. The existing buildings on the site were demolished in 1994.



Victoria Street, from in front of Westminster Abbey. Victoria Street originated in the 1850s and was developed as a thoroughfare.The street was comprehensively redeveloped during the late 1950s onwards.

[OldCustomsMan]

Originally Posted by Black Cat

"Does anyone know what the building was next to the bridge? Im sure its gone now."

Vintry House, built 1930, demoiished in 1980s. I don't know the full story but the building was considered by the City to be a priority to redevelop due to its height being 30ft above the height limit for the area and obstructing views of St Pauls.

I worked in Vintry House in the early 1970s, when it was HM Customs & Excise, Valuation Division HQ.
Don't know how relevant it may be, but the building flooded at Wharf (basement) Level roughly every 10 years.
We had our Registry there; that's where we stored paper test-case files dating as far back as the late 19th century.
It was C&E's 2nd HQ, after King's Beam House in Mincing Lane.

[jamie1371]

new finds
image hosted on flickr

London, River Thames, Tower Bridge and docklands, 1980

image hosted on flickr