Gibbs surrounds

The Gibbs surround is a blocky treatment of a Renaissance doorway or window. Typically each block alternates on a column with a flat or a rounded section. It is a variation on the "rusticated" style. It was popularised by the Scottish architect James Gibbs (1682-1754), though it can be found in examples that pre-date his influence. The first example shown is on the early eighteenth century Old Magistrate's House, Church Lane, Ledbury, Herefordshire. The second example is on Waterside House, Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire, and dates from c.1740.

photo 1 © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10
photo 2 © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Hotel windows

One way in which climate change is affecting the design of buildings is in the increasing prevalence of permanent or semi-permanent shading of windows on new buildings. These also offer design elements through not only the structures themselves, but also in the shadows that they throw on walls. Here is an example I saw in Gloucester. The photograph shows examples in Minehead, Somerset.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

The Shell Store revisited

click photo to enlarge
In November 2021 we made our first visit to the Shell Store, a refurbished building on an industrial estate in Hereford.

 

At that time it was almost completed and we made a mental note to go back again when it was open for business. The link above briefly summarizes the history of this remarkable building so I won't repeat myself here.

 What I will say is I really like the saw-tooth roof line of the Shell Store, and I'm fascinated by the translucent material that forms its cladding. Thay both look great on a bright, clear(ish) day.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham

Pittville Pump Room in Cheltenham is a mineral spa building commissioned in 1825 by the landowner and developer, Joseph Pitt. It was to be the focal point of Pittville, his new town, and features Ionic columns based on the Temple of Illisus in Athens. The architect was John Forbes of Cheltenham. He completed the £90,000 building in 1830 just at the point when "taking the waters" began to decline in popularity. In 1889 Cheltenham borough council bought the Pump Room. After being used as a store during WW2 restoration work was undertaken and it was re-opened in 1960. Today it is a venue for concerts and other events and the mineral water may still be sampled.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Architectural fins

Decorative architectural fins first came to feature in architecture during the Art Deco period of the 1930s. In the UK their most frequently application was on the facades of cinemas and factories where they added a very "moderne" look to buildings. In the later twentieth century and twenty first century they re-appeared periodically as decorative and functional additions. The example above is the 1 Poole Street extension of the Gainsborough Studios apartments in Hackney, London. Here they add sleek, shiny verticality as well as acting as barriers between apartments to give greater privacy to the residents.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

St Pancras Hotel, London

Which is the most notable Gothic Revival building in London? Most people might, not unreasonably, nominate the Houses of Parliament, even though A.W.N. Pugin, one of its two architects disparagingly described it to an acquaintance as "All Grecian, sir; Tudor details on a classic body." My vote would be split between Alfred Waterhouse's Natural History Museum (1881) and the St Pancras Hotel (1876). The latter was built by George Gilbert Scott after he was, surprisingly, declared winner in the competition for the project. Why surprisingly? Because his design was much bigger and much more expensive than was stipulated in the competition rules. This would usually have ruled him out of contention but here the judges were overpowered by the magnificence of Scott's vision. One can still feel that today.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Contrasting styles of architecture

The church of St Francis Xavier (Roman Catholic) and the former Post Office, both on Broad Street, Hereford, make odd but striking neighbours. The church is by Charles Day, dates from 1837-9 and is in the Greek style with a portico featuring two giant Doric columns in antis. It is finished in a bright yellow stucco. The adoption of a pagan Greek style for a Christian church was not universally accepted at the time it was built. The adjacent Post Office of 1880-1 is by E.G. Rivers in the Jacobean style. It is faced with Portland ashlar and has the characteristic Gothic and Renaissance details, though leaning rather heavily to the former. Such building juxtapositions don't please everyone but I quite liked the pairing of the upper stories.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Front and back

There are not many houses that have more money spent on the back elevation than on the front. They do exist but buildings with more elaborate fronts than backs are pretty much the rule. That is even the case with Britain's country houses, i.e. the houses that were (and to a lesser extent still are) erected by the country's wealthy.

 Berrington Hall near Leominster, Herefordshire, was built in the late C18 by the architect, Henry Holland, and though he took care with, and spent money on, the rear elevation, it has service buildings - kitchens, stables, a laundry etc, and an open courtyard, that would always have impinged on a more opulent rear elevation. Today these utilitarian buildings make useful locations for the cafe, toilets, bookshop etc that visitors to the now National Trust owned property can use.

photo 1 © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300
photo 2 © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Hereford Cathedral, west front

In 1786 the fourteenth century axial west tower of Hereford Cathedral collapsed. This came as no surprise since construction designed to prevent such an incident had been going on for some time. The rebuilding of 1788-90 by James Wyatt was in a mixed mid to late Gothic style, involved the loss of a bay of the nave, and was evidently inspired by the west end of Winchester Cathedral. Wyatt's efforts were not praised by Victorian restorers of the cathedral and in 1902-8 John Oldrid Scott built what we see today. He chose the Decorated style, small octagonal turrets to north and south where, more commonly, are found substantial towers, and an overall busyness that some find fussy.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Stanbury Chapel, Hereford Cathedral

The Stanbury Chapel is a small chantry chapel in the chancel north aisle at Hereford Cathedral. It was begun around 1480, completed by 1492 and was built for John Stanbury (d.1474) who was the bishop of Hereford from 1453 until 1474. The chapel's Perpendicular architecture reflects the period of its construction, particularly the ornate fan vaulting. The colourful stained glass is by Archibald J. Davies, a member of the Bromsgrove Guild, who worked in the Arts and Crafts style.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Pump Rooms, Tenbury Wells

In 1839-40 saline springs were discovered in the Worcestershire town of Tenbury causing it to change its name to Tenbury Wells. In the Victorian period many towns developed such "wells" and "spas" as genteel holiday attractions with an emphasis on visitors being able to "take the waters" for the sake of their health. This often necessitated the construction of buildings that housed the wells and spas, as well as hotels to accommodate the increased number of visitors.

Many of the spa buildings featured traditional classical architectural styles. However, others sought something more novel as at Tenbury Wells. The Pump Rooms here were the work of the Birmingham architect, James Cranston (1821-71), and are quite innovative and light-hearted, using a prefabricated system of his own design that borrowed ideas from large glasshouses. Pevsner thought it "Gothicky" or "Chinese". To my mind the buildings recall English seaside pier pavilions or low-cost eastern European churches.

photo 1 © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2
photo 2 © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Norman architecture

It's common for architectural historians to have favourite periods. For some it is the elegance and good sense of the Georgian era. Others prefer the Englishness of Arts and Crafts. And there are even those who have a liking for the watered-down English version of the Modern style of the first half of the twentieth century.

When it comes to medieval Romanesque and Gothic people often have a preference - maybe Early English rather than Decorated, or Perpendicular over Norman. I have no strong feelings for one style over another but I do confess to liking Saxon/Norman more than most people. On a recent tour I admired the grand and somewhat gloomy Norman style at Winchester Cathedral (top photo) and the more modest, but no less interesting arches, columns, capitals and decorative features of St John Baptist at Devizes (bottom photo).

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Worcester Cathedral and King John

This photograph was taken from in front of the high altar in Worcester Cathedral. It is a fine prospect showing off many of the best features of medieval architecture (and the careful work of Victorian restorers). In the foreground, in a place of honour, is the tomb of King John. Amongst English monarchs King John is possibly the most reviled. Successive tellings of the story of Robin Hood have him as the usurper of King Richard I, and his quarrels with the barons leading to Magna Carta frame him as quarrelsome, spiteful and reluctant to relinquish any of his powers. More recently historians have credited his hard working nature, administrative skills and generalship. None of this has affected his resting place; he was placed in the cathedral in 1216 and he remains there still.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

The Hive, Worcester

The Hive is a building by the architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. It opened in 2012 and is the UK's first joint-use library building, housing both the University of Worcester library and Worcester County Library. It also accommodates the county archive, a local history centre, the county archaeologist's team and a multi-agency customer service centre. It has a distinctive seven part roof design clad in a scale-like covering of copper alloy. I don't know what the concrete block houses but it does have seating and trees on top. The landscaping is subtle to the point of being barely noticeable. Perhaps it is clearer when the plants are in flower.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Montacute House and south lodge

Montacute House in Somerset was built c.1598, a time when the main influence on English architecture was changing from Gothic to Renaissance. The west elevation, above, and the flanking walls have classically-inspired columns and an overall symmetry but the prevalence of the principal orders of architecture cannot be seen. The windows look backwards rather than forwards, and the Dutch gables show the influence of Flanders rather than Italy. When Montacute was built this was the entrance elevation and instead of a lawn there would have been a carriage turning circle.

A large house such as this needed gatehouse lodges and the South Lodge is a marvellous example of how the grandeur of the main house could be announced by the imposing architecture of the ancillary buildings.

  photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

More City towers

The skyline of London has altered dramatically in the past twent years or so. Tall towers have proliferated initially in two main areas - Canary Wharf and The City. In both cases what began in a modest and relatively unintrusive manner has gone mad and now towers rise next to each other with no apparent thought given to the appearance of the clustering of these glass and concrete monsters. The Shard seems to be the catalyst for more towers south of the river, and St George's Wharf and Battersea Power Station are magnets for towers in the west of central London. One of the South Bank viewpoints for The City is a specially constructed spot at New Globe Wharf by Bankside Pier. I took this photograph of some tourists enjoying (?) the view.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Pixelated Birmingham hotel

I suspect that fewer buildings of the twenty-first century will weather as well as those built in earlier centuries. Are there any modern buildings, I wonder, that will be improved by exposure to time, weather and the rough and tumble of daily life, something that is a feature of quite a few older structures? I pondered this as I took the photograph above. It is a detail of a Holiday Inn Express building in the centre of Birmingham. Its pixel-style cladding is certainly eye-catching. But, I wondered, will it be cleaned when required, will rust stains appear, as they have on the nearby old\new styled street lights. Or will it be re-modelled when the sharp newness of greys, blacks and white becomes passé drabness?

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Worcester Cathedral nave

A day out in Worcester began with a walk along the riverside to the cathedral. We entered by the north porch and had a look around the nave. As we moved to the crossing we found our way into the transepts and choir blocked by barriers. It seems that Storm Arwen, at the end of November 2021, dislodged part of a tower pinnacle that crashed onto a north aisle roof, piercing the lead covering and cracking some of the underlying vaulting. Work is in progress to restore the affected stonework and re-open the closed areas. None of this could be seen on our approach to the building but as we departed via the cathedral green we could see great areas of sheeting fixed in place to keep rain from penetrating. We'll make a point of checking on progress on our next visit.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Looking up in Ludlow

The Shropshire town of Ludlow has many interesting old buildings with a cluster of them visible in this photograph taken from Broad Street near its junction with the High Street. From left to right they are: The Butter Cross, a classical-style market hall of c.1746; No.1 King Street, a plain, brick-built late Georgian (c.1829), former house, now with a ground floor shop inserted; the tall and imposing C15 crossing tower of St Laurence, the parish church of the town; and Bodenhams, an ornate, timber-framed shop and dwelling of c1462.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Library of Birmingham photographers

On our recent visit to Birmingham we discovered that the city centre is, essentially, a building site. New buildings are springing up, old buildings are being refurbished, and the new tramway, we are told, has stopped running so that further extensions can be made to the system.

 The completed Library of Birmingham offers several high level views of the bustle below and I made a mental note to take a few photographs from these vantage points on our next visit. Today's offerings shows photographers who were using the viewpoints as we looked up from below.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300