Portland House, SW1

Passing through Westminster recently, I was relieved to see that work had begun on refurbishing Portland House, a 1960s landmark building which looms over Victoria station. I worked in the area between 2019 and 2022 and it seemed as though, with all floors vacant, Portland House was destined for demolition like so many other brutalist …

The Belgrave Hospital, Charles Holden and Frank Pick

I had been meaning to take a closer look at the Belgrave Hospital ever since I found out it was designed by Charles Holden, an architect we have mentioned before on this blog. After studying in Manchester and Bolton, Holden found himself in London at the turn of the 20th century, first working under C.R. …

18-20 Haymarket

I had passed this building many times before, often glimpsed from the top deck of the 453 bus, without registering the faded ghost signage revealing its previous tenant - Burberry's. On closer inspection, I noticed additional remnants of this history: a letter 'B' stamped on the down-pipes and carved atop pilasters; an original stone side-entrance …

Grosvenor Estate, Page Street

I had seen pictures of these chequerboard blocks before, but nothing could have prepared me for their visual impact, especially stumbling across Page Street on a clear summer morning. The estate was developed between 1929-35 by the 2nd Duke of Westminster (Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor), who granted a 999-year lease to Westminster City Council at …

The Sutton Dwellings: Housing London’s Poor

I have often walked past the Sutton Dwellings on Plough Way in Rotherhithe and wondered about their history. Thankfully, there is an ornate panel fixed to one of the grand red-brick blocks bearing the name of the benefactor and providing some historic context. William Richard Sutton (1836-1900) had made his fortune transporting parcels, hence the …

Rachel Whiteread’s “House”

While researching my last post on Jacob Epstein, I came across the story of House, a 1993 sculpture by Rachel Whiteread that proved equally contentious and came to a similarly undignified end. In partnership with the organisation Artangel, Whiteread obtained a temporary lease on a late Victorian terraced house on Grove Road in Bow, east …

Jacob Epstein on the Strand

Zimbabwe House on the Strand occupies a prominent corner of this central London street. Although the granite and Portland stone is now looking smoke-stained and worse for wear, the building's pared-back blocky classical detailing and variety of windows distinguishes the façade from surroundings buildings. Charles Holden, an architect best known for his work for the …

The London Plan: space for industry?

In the past week I have been thinking about the place of industry in the modern city. This was partly prompted by my last post on the rise and fall of the leather trade in Bermondsey and partly as a result of reading the Mayor's new London Plan, which was published last month. Managed Decline …

Bermondsey Leather

In David Johnson's Southwark and the City (1969), he describes Southwark as "a community kept separate by the river but owing its whole existence to the proximity of the City." This may have been true once but it is an over simplification, and a closer look at one of the area's historical industries shows that …

St Olaf House: a foray into Modernism?

The Hay's Wharf building, now known as St Olaf House, on the south bank of the Thames by London Bridge has always appealed to me. Looking through pictures of the river front from various periods, the building stands out as strikingly Modern and yet it does not look out of place beside the wharves, warehouses, …