Shanne W
Earth hath not anything to show more fair:
The line is from Wordsworth's poem Composed upon Westminster Bridge: September 3 1802 and I suspect the bridge is the only thing that's obvious that he would have been able to see. This is actually from Hungerford Bridge looking west along the Thames towards Westminster Bridge and beyond., the footbridge along the railway bridge. The footbridge was rebuilt in the 90s although it has been there for much longer - originally as a raised and rickety wooden structure that led from Waterloo station through the Shell building and across the car parks and road. It was closed as unsafe in the 80s/90s. I used the shortcut for years and was most aggrieved when I came back to London after moving away to find my shortcut gone.
The Palace of Westminster, to the right, was rebuilt following fire in the 1840-70 and the spiky bits on the far right are the top of Portcullis House, which was opened in 2001. Working up river and the next tower is Tower One St George Wharf, and the rest of the development at St George Wharf. Those are the buildings catching the sun, just right of centre. That development is still under construction and is the site of the helicopter crash of early 2013. It has also won the worst architecture award of the year, twice.
On the left, the London Eye was built for the Millennium in 2000 and opened in March 2000. It has since become a major attraction. The buildings behind are the original London County Hall, the buildings of the Greater London Council, which was disbanded under the Conservative Government of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher. Ken Livingstone, the then London Mayor, used to use the building as a convenient hoarding to protest against Parliament on the opposite bank. That building was built in 1911-22 with additional blocks in 1939.
The big block behind that is St Thomas Hospital, which was founded in 1173. The old bits are amazing (I used to visit a friend there in the children's wing) and many of the buildings date back to the 1700s. The modern block that can be seen here was rebuilt following WWII bombing in the 1960s. Following the river upriver then takes you past Lambeth Palace, very old and too low to be seen here. That would have been there for Wordsworth to see.
Working up river, in the middle of the picture, the next block that is catching the sun is Westminster Towers, which has a curved glass office building next to a block of red brick apartments, advertised as overlooking the Houses of Parliament. I guess the next blocks are Camelford House and Peninsula Heights, both modern blocks, one of offices and the other of flats, where a two bedroom flat is being offered at £2,600,000 currently.
(In to see NewsJack recorded at RADA)
20 February 2013
# 51/365
Earth hath not anything to show more fair:
The line is from Wordsworth's poem Composed upon Westminster Bridge: September 3 1802 and I suspect the bridge is the only thing that's obvious that he would have been able to see. This is actually from Hungerford Bridge looking west along the Thames towards Westminster Bridge and beyond., the footbridge along the railway bridge. The footbridge was rebuilt in the 90s although it has been there for much longer - originally as a raised and rickety wooden structure that led from Waterloo station through the Shell building and across the car parks and road. It was closed as unsafe in the 80s/90s. I used the shortcut for years and was most aggrieved when I came back to London after moving away to find my shortcut gone.
The Palace of Westminster, to the right, was rebuilt following fire in the 1840-70 and the spiky bits on the far right are the top of Portcullis House, which was opened in 2001. Working up river and the next tower is Tower One St George Wharf, and the rest of the development at St George Wharf. Those are the buildings catching the sun, just right of centre. That development is still under construction and is the site of the helicopter crash of early 2013. It has also won the worst architecture award of the year, twice.
On the left, the London Eye was built for the Millennium in 2000 and opened in March 2000. It has since become a major attraction. The buildings behind are the original London County Hall, the buildings of the Greater London Council, which was disbanded under the Conservative Government of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher. Ken Livingstone, the then London Mayor, used to use the building as a convenient hoarding to protest against Parliament on the opposite bank. That building was built in 1911-22 with additional blocks in 1939.
The big block behind that is St Thomas Hospital, which was founded in 1173. The old bits are amazing (I used to visit a friend there in the children's wing) and many of the buildings date back to the 1700s. The modern block that can be seen here was rebuilt following WWII bombing in the 1960s. Following the river upriver then takes you past Lambeth Palace, very old and too low to be seen here. That would have been there for Wordsworth to see.
Working up river, in the middle of the picture, the next block that is catching the sun is Westminster Towers, which has a curved glass office building next to a block of red brick apartments, advertised as overlooking the Houses of Parliament. I guess the next blocks are Camelford House and Peninsula Heights, both modern blocks, one of offices and the other of flats, where a two bedroom flat is being offered at £2,600,000 currently.
(In to see NewsJack recorded at RADA)
20 February 2013
# 51/365