View allAll Photos Tagged Reflective
Even better Large and Dark.
Thanks to everyone for helping this one make it to explore - I'm so chuffed!
I was lucky enough to attend an event in the former rotating restaurant at the top of the Post Office Tower BT Tower last night - given the murky evening it was not an ideal night for any long shots into the distance for panoramic views of London (also the glass was super-reflective) but with the help of Dominic's tripod (the official photographer at the event) I got a few good shots looking down to the streets below...
.. and behold - Middlesex Hospital chapel looking rather forlorn in the middle of the vaste site that was previously the hospital.
The first part of Middlesex Hospital was in Windmill Street in Soho and opened in 1745 - the site here was the second location and was built between 1755 and 1757. At the time the residents of London complained that the location was too far out of the city and that you had to cross the Soho fields to get to it. Seeing the extent of London now it's hard to imagine how this must have looked.
The hospital was extended over the years and numerous buildings were added - in 1929 a large area of the original hospital was demolished as it was in danger of collapse and was replaced with the a large seven-story 'H block' which opened in 1935 and was a familiar landmark known to all visitors.
Alongside this were a number of other buildings - notable here are the row along Nassau Street and 10 Mortimer Street. I mention these as the front walls of the buildings on Nassau Street remain and can be seen on the right of the site... 10 Mortimer Street is in the top right corner of the wasteland and is Grade II listed. Built in 1898 in red brick and Portland stone it started out as offices for an iron founders but was soon incorporated into the hospital. Interesting that the style of 10 Mortimer Street is "Art and Craft" which is the same as used by Ebenezer Howard, founder of Letchworth Garden City, my home town, as seen elsewhere in my photostream.
The chapel was started in 1891 and is rather different as the interior vaults were built in the Italian Gothic Style and are all marble and mosaic - quite stunning. The original architect was John Pearson although the building wasn't actually finished until 1929 when the demolition of much of the old buildings allowed the East window to be completed - the architect for this was one Frank Pearson, his son. John Pearson was one of the foremost Victorian church architects and if you're of a mind you can pay homage to him in Westminster abbey, which I think gives an indication of the esteem in which he was held.
The mosaics in the chapel are by Maurice Josey who's work can be seen across the country, most notably in St Pauls cathedral, Westminster Abbey and The Church of the Sacred Heart in Droitwich which is absolutely stunning Regardless of whether you're into the style I can recommend a visit if you're in the area just to marvel at the work.
The hospital closed in December 2005 and services moved to the University College London Hospital on the Euston Road - from all accounts by this stage the buildings were unable to support modern hospital requirements although the staff appear to have enjoyed the surroundings.
In order to pay for the new hospital the site here was sold for development (but not before being used as a location for a film "Eastern Promises" where it appeared as Trafalgar Hospital). The sale for £200M (thought to be some £25M over value and even £175M was way more than expected due to the rising cost of property - good news for UCL hospital though) completed in June 2006 and the site was cleared, save for the chapel and 10 Mortimer Street, and there it all starts to go horribly wrong.
The developers were (you can tell where we're headed can't you - were) the Candy brothers, Christian and Nick who planned a £1bn development called NoHo Square. Now this would be fine if London had a Houston Street and you could have South and North of Houston.. but the history of Soho has nothing to do with South of anything so NoHo is completely meaningless.
I'll spare you the details of the innovative/thrusting/blue-glass residential/retail plans - this article in Property Week is fairly descriptive and contains much knob-waving by Candy and Candy over how spanky their plans were going to be.
Roll forward to late 2008 and Famine's Hand doth Stalk the Developer's Land in the shape of Robert Peston the Credit Crunch. The upshot of this was that the Candy brothers pulled out and 'swapped' developments with one in Beverley Hills - the fact that an informal valuation of the site puts it now at £120m may have something to do with this.
So now we have an empty site owned by the Icelandic bank Kaupthing (yes - that one which was nationalised) and in the current climate little chance of movement for some time. I can only hope that the chapel survives it's lonely existence in the middle of this barren landscape.
Who knows what may happen to architectural trends between now and when work re-starts... green glass instead of blue?! The shot here reflects the multitude of styles in the area and hopefully this can be reflected in the plans. I always like the way streets appear when viewed from above at night - the tones are lovely and the way the light shines up buildings at night, reflected from the street, as opposed to down is most pleasing...
.. enjoy
P.S I couldn't help think of the song Nightporter by the popular 80's beat combo "Japan" - those of synth and haircut fame. No porters in this hospital anymore...
Could I ever explain this feeling of love?
It just lingers on
The fear in my heart that keeps telling me
Which way to turn
We'll wander again
Our clothes they are wet
We shy from the rain
Longing to touch all the places we know we can hide
The width of a room that can hold so much pleasure inside
Here am I alone again
A quiet town where life gives in
Here am I just wondering
Nightporters go
Nightporters slip away
I'll watch for a sign
And if I should ever again cross your mind
I'll sit my room and wait until nightlife begins
And catching my breath, we'll both brave the weather again
Here am I alone again
The quiet town where life gives in
Here am I just wondering
Nightporters go
Nightporters slip away
Please do not download, copy, edit, reproduce or publish any of my images. They are my own intellectual property and are not for use without my express written permission. Thank you.
This is a picture of a bridge that I took in California. That is the Pacific Ocean in the background!
Reflected against the still waters of Palo Alto Baylands Preserve in San Francisco Bay, the Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is a fairly unusual species that generally breeds in the tundra of arctic Siberia. They are strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa but also vagrant to North America They are highly gregarious and will form flocks with other calidrid waders like Dunlin. Curlew Sandpipers will forage in the soft mud on the marshes in the Baylands and along the Pacific Coast mainly picking up food by sight. They mostly eat insects and other small invertebrates such as earthworms, millipedes, snails and spiders.
Taken with a Canon 60mm USM Macro lens. Type L for a better view.
Our Daily Challenge - Begins With C - 3/24/13
Looking out to sea
www.sefton.gov.uk/around-sefton/another-place-by-antony-g...
"Another Place is an artwork by Antony Gormley. It is made up of 100 cast iron figures situated across an area of sandy beach over 3km long (approx 2 miles).
The Another Place figures - each weighing 650 kilos - are made from casts of the artist's own body and are shown at different stages of rising out of the sand, all of them looking out to sea, staring at the horizon in ‘silent expectation.’
Antony Gormley says the installation is a poetic response to the individual and universal sentiments associated with emigration - sadness at leaving, but the hope of a new future in Another Place."
Kingholm, Dumfries, 10th October 2014. Zenit branded Lomo LC-A with Kodak BW400CN at box speed. Lab C41 processed and scanned
This happens when it's raining (a lot) in Amsterdam.. we can't handle this..but we can enjoy it's reflexivity
Copyright © 2010 Elizabeth Root Blackmer. All rights reserved.
You are invited to visit my website at www.brootphoto.com.