Is that a Boat in this Corner ?

Having a wander around the OXO tower the other evening and what should I come across but a corner of a rather old building with a boat sticking out !

I love corners of buildings and London certainly has many more to offer but I never thought I'd find a boat sticking out of won but then again being this close to the Thames could come in handy....

Camden NW1.....

Welcome to the corner of Albert Street/Delancey Street in Camden NW1.

What do we see but a great house with beautiful stone and wonderful windows with small ledges and wrought iron borders. The road or should I say street signs are actually painted on the brickwork !

However did you notice the windows that have been bricked up ? In the past people were taxed based upon the amount of windows and therefore many were just bricked up and never to see the light of day again.....

More Than Just a Corner...?

Looks like a simple corner with a cement render on the lower half and brick work on the upper part of this building. I should let you know we are in fact at the junction of Tufton Street and Horseferry Road.

Now the traffic cones and notice board are here not for artistic effect but because we are close by the local magistrates court of Horseferry Road which somebody renamed Westminster.

But back to this corner notice the how the shade changes the colour and tone of the magnolia render and admire the lovely small paned window with curved arch. What though is within that frame ? Well it turns out this site was once a home for the needy, the poor and orphans in other words it was a boys home. The Stone which is covered and framed is a foundation stone and was laid by a Lord Kinnaird.

Who would have thought a plain simple corner would hold a local piece of history and all that is left of the home is this foundation stone. The site now is in fact residential property of a sort after nature...

Old Church Street SW3...

We have a number of corners here but what really strikes me with this corner shot isn't the brickwork or the vertical pipe but the clash of the red and olive green colours.

Old Church Street SW3 in Chelsea is a beautiful pleasant mainly residential street. Here we have found a shop next to a home and the difference in use and colour creates a stunning setting let alone corner. Please forgive the bollard in the shot they seem to breed in Chelsea.

The corner for me here though is the small corner at the base of the two buildings were the colours clash of should I say collide...

Pavilion Street and Road SW3...

What a corner we have here at the junction of Pavilion Street and Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea SW3.

Just look at the wonderful clean lines created by the brickwork which travel off into the perspective. On closer inspection we find that on the left hand wall a number of windows have in fact been bricked up (was this over the window tax) with just a slot and an air brick providing ventilation. On the right hand wall we see the window is in place but a wrought iron grill is placed across for security.

At the top of the window frame notice the angled brick work which is giving strength to the construction of the opening and taking up some of the load weighing downwards, today we would just place a lintel across opening. The terracotta colour of the bricks certainly work well when you introduce a lighter shade allowing a pattern to develop around the whole of this building. The ridge that juts out also makes a very handy window ledge and don't worry I haven't forgot the bollard...

Savage Gardens E.C.3...

What a corner and what a sign "Savage Gardens E.C.3." with a very 1960's look. The Corporation of London just get the signage right for the era and the area of the square mile. This corner is actually under a railway bridge and with the trunking and metal duct we have a sort of working functional corner complete with plastic binbags and a telecoms hub.

The walls themselves are pebbled dashed and painted a rather off white with all the usual London dirt and grim attaching itself over the months if not years.

For me though this corner is made because of that one old road sign, a piece of modern history under a railway arch...

A Welbeck Corner...

This is a very different corner to what I've noticed recently for we have a house that is converted into apartments/flats but the look design of the property is very different when looked at from a corner perspective.

From the front elevation we notice the beautiful smooth greystone with a short iron fence/gate yet from the side and the corner we see the rather nice red brick just merge with the grey stone. In fact the drain pipe seems to draw a line where this change takes place and the box sash windows are a must for period properties like these. My only critisium of this place is that it appears the road sign could be better placed just seems to close to the window ledge.

Oh let's not forget those tiles...

How Many Corners...?

I must say I have got plenty of mileage out of the walk around Hyde Park Corner and here we have a corner shot of Wellington's Arch.

This is a very simple corner with a rather lovely but plain wrought iron railing/fence that protects a service area of the arch. I must say the pale green paint job does the trick here for it doesn't detract from the beautiful grey stone.

If we look closely at the picture you'll notice we actually have a number of corners here. The corner of the railing/fence, the internal corner within the confines of the railing and then at the end of the railing we have a corner with a column upon it plus the solid stone wall corner which forms a much larger part of the triumphal archway.

Just in case you do wish to see a few more shots of Hyde Park Corner please log onto http://www.freelondonevents.co.uk/talkthewalk.htm and click on Hyde Park Corner...

French Place E1...

This is a very interesting corner for we are in the heart of Shoreditch E1 which is a very newish trendy place & cetainly different to the usual places that people tend to visit here in the capital.

Looking at this beautiful dark brick corner with offset windows just makes me wonder what this area would have been like a hundred years ago. I love the fact that the box sash windows are still in place even if it appears the lower ground window to the right needs a security grill. But look at the perfect vertical drain pipe and the lone bollard to our right (http://www.bollardsoflondon.blogspot.com/) and notice the really dark looking bricks with a slight curve on the actually corner of the building.

In fact the name of this little street/place eg French Place E1 just makes me wonder of the past in this rather gritty, grey part of the newish London pub/club scene that is all around this ever so quiet corner...

Bricks you can't beat them...

Barton Street SW1 and the junction with Great College Street SW1 and we see a corner that is just literally made from beautiful red brick.

If you look closely at the window on the left hand side you'll notice above the stone window frame a semi-circle in the brickwork. We also see a window closed off and a extraction unit in next window. Yet on the the right hand side you see the windows at a different level altogether. It's not until we look up to the first floor do we see the windows set up make a little more sense.

Funny looking at the lamp post and road sign look at the damage to the warning triangle...

The Colour Grey Just Beautiful...

Here we are in the heart of the capital, the land of Government for all around us are buildings of national importance.

This is a corner of substance the building is solid and so to is the iron fence which turns the corner and leads to a solid stone square column which then transforms into a balustrade. Now admire the horizontal and vertical lines which then merge into the semi-circular tops of the ground floor windows.

We move up to the first floor and we can see the street sign identifying Whitehall Court. Notice the small decorative balconies and the rectangular with decorative stone masonry work dividing the windows apart.

Don't let the colour grey distract you from noticing the beauty that actually surrounds you...

A Corner of Westminster Village SW1...

This corner in the village of Westminster is rather like a negative image of each of the buildings. The house to the right is predominately made of red brick the house to the left is built of mainly dark brown bricks.

The houses here are similar in build the area is just stunning and you will think you are travelling back in time to an era when boys swept chimneys. For a moment staring into this corner only the upgraded drain pipes lead you to realise that you are actually in a much more modern time/era.

So make your way down to Cowley Street and the junction of Barton Street SW1...

Who's Looking at You ?

What a wonderful corner we have here a lovely solid stone building on the corner of Millbank and Dean Stanley Street SW1 (leads to Smith Square). I do love a good street sign and yet again the Westminster City Council do us proud by placing clear informative street signs on the building which negates the need for street furniture and clutter.

Anyway did you notice the title for this post, "Who's Looking at You" for if you look up at this corner you'll notice the faces of those chubby boys that we call cherubs looking down upon us. I travel past this building almost daily and I never noticed it before, just goes to show what you can find if we pay a little more attention to the urban environment.

Must say also I do love that Taxi sign and it shows the business within this building knows a little about the surrounding area. Lovely bracket nice design of sign and it compliments the stone work which is both clean and decorative. We have though nice horizontal groves, rather nice sash windows and faces looking down at us, you may notice on the upper tier the introduction of brick and not just grey stone.

What a corner looking down at us here then...

Druid/Tanner Street and a World War II Bomb...

We have a very old looking corner here at the junction of Druid and Tanner Street. Notice the different colour brickwork and the wonderful Bermondsey Scrap sign and just look at the vertical drain pipe on Tanner Street with the conduit running over the street sign.

I've also noticed how the street signs came after the scrap merchants sign for they are placed at different heights and look rather new. Take a closer look at Druid Street and you'll notice a blue circle with some writing upon and here at this corner of a railway bridge support is a little piece of local London World War II history.

The plaque was placed by the local borough council of Southwark and it tells a very simple story of the Druid Street bombing back on the 25th of October 1940 when a bomb hit the railway arch and killed 77 people who were sheltering from the air raid. That was over 68 years ago and who would have thought a site dedicated to corners would find out something like that.

May they rest in peace...

The Other Side of the Road...

We are in fact just at the opposite corner to the previous post and what a difference 20 ft can make in London, for here we have Clutha House with its wonderful red brick exterior and just superb windows which have a semi circular top. Take a look at left window and notice how those top windows open.

Again very good placement of road/street sign and just look at the wonderful sign for the name of this house doesn't the chaps head above the name look a little scary ?

So from a rather large stone Methodist Central Hall we have walked a few feet and found ourselves by a beautiful brick built building that is just full of character. The corner shot here is full of vertical and horizontal lines mixed with the curves of the tops of windows plus the inserts of the keystones around the frames.

Don't you just love London...

Methodist Central Hall, SW1...

We are at the junction of Stories Gate and Matthew Parker Street SW1 and what a corner we have here. Plenty of horizontal lines amongst the stone work which is pretty ornate to say the least.

Must say the street sign sits rather well on that piece of stone wall and it appears to be just the right size. But the highlight of this corner is the beautiful vertical drain pipe for it is not circular in shape but rather cubed and in varying parts recessed back into the stone work to give a much cleaner flusher appearance against the building.

Rather like the rest of this building even the corners of Methodist Central Hall have something to offer. This is a grey stoned marvel and sits well in the surrounding area this may well become a temporary home to our parliament if the repair works are undertaken within the next three to five years on the Palace of Westminster.

Who's Climbing Out of the Stone ?

Have I broken my golden rule of every corner being 90 degree, well if I have may I apologise but before you rush to complain please take a very close look at this corner and look directly above the street sign "The Sanctuary". You should see a bearded man dressed in a robe climbing out of the stonework.

Who is he ? Why is he escaping the stone ? What is he actually doing ? These are all valid but also very interesting questions that need answering.

You should also note that the other wall on Great Smith Street SW1 has another man exiting the Stone wall under the window ledge. He doesn't have a beard but he appears to clutching something, at a guess I would say a book or manuscript.

A Very Simple Corner...

Here we are in Bloomsbury at the junction of Endsleigh Gardens and Taviton Street WC1. This area of London is a noted Georgian district and the simple lines of the stone work look wonderful. The only real throw back to the Victorian era is the wrought iron work on the balconies we can just see in the top two corners of the picture.

The street signs seem to look pretty old but they just add to the charm of this corner, yet right at the front the railing appears to run at a completely different angle to the building.

I really do like the lines and the look of this corner it's just so simple...

Look Upwards to the Heavens...

Well this is a continuation of the last post for this is a shot of the top corner of Hertford House (home to the Wallace Collection). We are actually still at the junction of Manchester Street and George Street but looking upwards to the heavens. Now admire once again the brickwork and certainly marvel at the drain pipes that have "return sets" in them so they navigate over the surface. Look at the curves either side of the corner wondering where is the window beneath.

Sometimes we have to look up as well as eye level to appreciate a building and sometimes it's not just the artwork within that will catch your eye but also the craftsmanship of the very building that houses the exhibition you are off to see...

George Street/Manchester Street W1...

What a rather nice pleasant looking corner we have here. Nice sensible streets signs attached to building and therefore reducing the need for street furniture, plus the ever so important fire hydrant sign on the George Street side of the building whilst we can see the air bricks/vents on the Manchester Street side directly under street sign.

Must say though I do love the beautiful red brick and just look and admire the vertical ornate Victorian drain pipes that are part inlaid into the brickwork of this magnificent building.

This is by the way the back of Hertford House which houses the Wallace Collection but like all treasures sometimes we forget to look at the very buildings that house them.

Mayfair by Night...

Here we are in Mayfair by night and as you can see we are at the corner of Stanhope Row & Hertford Street.

What a corner we have here with two late night workers taking a well earned break sitting on a small wall/kerb where the iron railing is embedded. I do though love the horizontal lines of the building behind but notice that the railing is curved at the corner and not at 90 degree.

One thing we should notice from this picture is the excessive street furniture that is in shot, four poles to hold up two street signs when maybe permission to place signs on railings would be more environmentally friendly.

Manchester Square W1...

Here we are in Manchester Square home to Hertford House & London's famous Wallace Collection but if you take a walk around this square you will find architecture & corners like no other.

Just look at the excellent horizontal lines of the brickwork the vertical drains pipes and the fine box sash windows. Even the iron railing with its kerb forms a corner and this just adds to beauty of this era & age when we really started to get things right and build to standard and quality that surpasses some of what we build today.

In fact the only thing out of line here seems to be the paving slabs which seem to resemble crazy paving in parts...

Welcome to the Corner Shot...!

Yes welcome to a brand new blog dedicated to the world of corners. Here in london we have more corners than most due to vast urban expanse that London has become so let us celebrate one part of this and look at the various interesting corners we can find all over the capital.

For the purposes of this blog I will define a corner as 90 degrees & the corner in this picture is St John's Wood Hight Street & Wellington Place. Here we have a brick built wall and a iron fence which allows us all a view of the trees, scrubs and flowers in the gardens held within.