The BBC Broadcasting House in Westminster

6 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Zizzu02/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Zizzu02/cc-by-sa-3.0

Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main building is in Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland stone over a steel frame. It is a Grade II* listed building and includes the BBC Radio Theatre, where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience, and lobby that was used as a location for filming the 1998 BBC television series In the Red.   read more…

Theme Week London – Greenwich

20 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, London, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  14 minutes

Great River Race, Royal Naval College in the backgorund © Motmit

Great River Race, Royal Naval College in the backgorund © Motmit

Greenwich is a district of South East London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. The town became the site of a Royal palace, the Palace of Placentia from the 15th century, and was the birthplace of many in the House of Tudor, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The palace fell into disrepair during the English Civil War and was rebuilt as the Royal Naval Hospital for Sailors by Sir Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor. These buildings became the Royal Naval College in 1873, and they remained an establishment for military education until 1998 when they passed into the hands of the Greenwich Foundation. The historic rooms within these buildings remain open to the public; other buildings are used by University of Greenwich and the Trinity College of Music. The town became a popular resort in the 17th century with many grand houses, such as Vanbrugh castle established on Maze Hill, next to the park. From the Georgian period estates of houses were constructed above the town centre. The maritime connections of Greenwich were celebrated in the 20th century, with the sitting of the Cutty Sark and Gipsy Moth IV next to the river front, and the National Maritime Museum in the former buildings of the Royal Hospital School in 1934. Greenwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created. To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, it was announced on 5 January 2010 that in 2012, the London Borough of Greenwich is to become the fourth to have Royal Borough status. The three others being The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough. Due to its historic links with the Royal Family, and its status as home of the Prime Meridian and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   read more…

Burlington House on Piccadilly

6 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Tony Hisgett/cc-by-2.0

© Tony Hisgett/cc-by-2.0

Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in London. It was originally a private Palladian mansion, and was expanded in the mid-19th century after being purchased by the British government. The main building is at the northern end of the courtyard and houses the Royal Academy, while five learned societies occupy the two wings on the east and west sides of the courtyard and the Piccadilly wing at the southern end. These societies, collectively known as the Courtyard Societies are:   read more…

Bahnhof St Pancras in London

1 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, London Reading Time:  15 minutes

Model of the extended St Pancras station (left) and Kings Cross station (right) © Andrew Dunn - www.andrewdunnphoto.com/cc-by-sa-2.0

Model of the extended St Pancras station (left) and Kings Cross station (right) © Andrew Dunn – www.andrewdunnphoto.com/cc-by-sa-2.0

St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus and Grade I listed building located on Euston Road in the St Pancras area of the London Borough of Camden. It stands between the British Library, King’s Cross station and the Regent’s Canal and is a structure widely known for its Victorian architecture. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the southern terminus of its mainline which connected London with the East Midlands and Yorkshire. When it opened, the arched Barlow train shed was the largest single-span roof in the world.   read more…

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London

31 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Museums, Exhibitions, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Schlaier

© Schlaier

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.   read more…

Harrods in London

1 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, London, Shopping Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Symphony

© Symphony

Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. The Harrods motto is Omnia Omnibus Ubique—All Things for All People, Everywhere. Several of its departments, including the seasonal Christmas department and the Food Halls, are world famous. The shop’s 330 departments offer a wide range of products and services. Products on offer include clothing for women, men, children and infants, electronics, jewellery, sporting gear, bridal trousseau, pets and pet accessories, toys, food and drink, health and beauty items, packaged gifts, stationery, housewares, home appliances, furniture, and much more. A representative sample of shop services includes 32 restaurants, serving everything from high tea to tapas to pub food to haute cuisine; a personal shopping-assistance programme known as “By Appointment”; a watch repair service; a tailor; a dispensing pharmacy; a beauty spa and salon; a barbers shop; private events planning and catering; food delivery; a wine steward; bespoke “picnic” hampers and gift boxes; bespoke cakes.   read more…

The St George Wharf Tower in London

1 September 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, London Reading Time:  6 minutes

July 2013 © Will Fox/cc-by-sa-3.0

July 2013 © Will Fox/cc-by-sa-3.0

St George Wharf Tower, also known as the Vauxhall Tower or The Tower, is a residential skyscraper in Vauxhall, in London Borough of Lambeth on River Thames, part of the St George Wharf development. At 181 metres (594 ft) tall with 50 storeys, it is the tallest solely residential building in the UK.   read more…

Lloyd’s building in London

20 August 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  5 minutes

© geograph.org.uk - Oast House Archive/cc-by-sa-2.0

© geograph.org.uk – Oast House Archive/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Lloyd’s building (sometimes known as the Inside-Out Building) is the home of the insurance institution Lloyd’s of London. It is located on the former site of East India House in 1 Lime Street, in London’s main financial district, the City of London. The building is a leading example of radical Bowellism architecture in which the services for the building, such as ducts and lifts, are located on the exterior to maximise space in the interior. The Lloyd’s building is 88 metres (289 ft) to the roof, with 14 floors. On top of each service core stand the cleaning cranes, increasing the overall height to 95.10 metres (312 ft). Modular in plan, each floor can be altered by addition or removal of partitions and walls.   read more…

The Battersea Power Station in London

1 August 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, London Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Tosh Marshall/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Tosh Marshall/cc-by-sa-3.0

Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Battersea, an inner-city district of South West London. It comprises two individual power stations, built in two stages in the form of a single building. Battersea A Power Station was built in the 1930s, with Battersea B Power Station to its east in the 1950s. The two stations were built to an identical design, providing the well known four-chimney layout. The proposal sparked protests from those who felt that the building would be too large and would be an eyesore, as well as worries about the pollution damaging local buildings, parks and even paintings in the nearby Tate Gallery. The company addressed the former concern by hiring Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to design the building’s exterior. He was a noted architect and industrial designer, famous for his design of the red telephone box, and of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. He would go on to design another London power station, Bankside, which now houses Tate Modern art gallery. The pollution issue was resolved by granting permission for the station on the condition that its emissions were to be treated, to ensure they were cleaner and contained less smoke. The station ceased generating electricity in 1983, but over the past 50 years it has become one of the best known landmarks in London and is Grade II* listed. The station’s celebrity owes much to numerous cultural appearances.   read more…

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