I've decided to go through some old photos from my various travels and post them here. Here is the first batch from the archives.

 

Back in March of 2001, I was stuck working long hours at a job I hated, and I was seriously questioning what mental illness could have possibly caused me to choose architecture as a profession. I had reached the point where I was in pretty dire need of a vacation in order to save my sanity. Luckily I was getting paid for all the overtime I had been putting in, and combined with a cheap airfare I found online, I was able to spend a week in London on my first-ever (and so far only) trip overseas. I had always wanted to visit London for a number of reasons. Much of my family ancestry is from that area, so it’s almost a rite of passage in my family to go back and visit the old stomping grounds. My father was undergoing cancer treatment at the time, so the need to re-connect with my roots seemed especially acute. Additionally, I had been seeing prominent British architects such as Norman Foster and Richard Rogers published in the architectural trade journals as the new pioneers in modern architecture, and I wanted to see some of this action for myself. I needed some inspiration, and fast. And besides all that, I’m seldom happier than when I’m exploring the streets of some strange new city. The time had come for me to stop dreaming and to go see this city for myself.

 

What follows are some random shots around town, in no particular order. Sorry for the quality of the photos; these all came from disposable point-and-shoot cameras I bought from various locations. I finally had the negatives scanned a few years ago. It didn't help that it was constantly raining for almost the entire week. Apparently it was a lot of rain even by London standards in March. The sun finally came out as I was riding the Tube back to Heathrow Airport at the end of my trip... Go figure.

 

Here we go:

 

The exterior of Victoria Station, and the spot where I first emerged from the tube station and set foot into London proper. This was the tube station closest to my hotel, so I found myself passing through here quite often over the next few days.

 

 

The main passenger concourse at Victoria Station.

 

 

One of the train sheds at Victoria. I also saw Paddington and Kings Cross stations, but didn't get any photos. This train shed is pretty typical, however.

 

 

Warwick Way, where my small bed-and-breakfast hotel was located, along with about a million other similar little hotels. This is in Westminster, about a 15-minute walk from Victoria Station.

 

 

I love markets. We simply don't have stuff like this in the US; Americans seem to prefer the suburban mega-mall. Here's Leadenhall Market, a short distance from the Lloyd's of London building.

 

 

The ruin of Christ Church Greyfriars, a Christopher Wren-designed parish that was destroyed in World War II. The site is now a public garden.

 

 

St. Paul's Cathedral. The size and history of this building are incredible.

 

 

The dome of St. Paul's is visible almost everywhere in the central part of the city. Here's a distant shot.

 

 

Holborn Street runs on a viaduct through part of central London, and provides some interesting views of adjacent streets.

 

 

I took a long walk along Holborn Street from the British Museum to the Lloyd's of London building, covering a good-sized chunk of the city in between. It took months for my feet to forgive me for all the walking I did around the city that week.

 

 

I was raised on Twining's tea, so I naturally had to seek out their store on the Strand.

 

 

Aldwych forms a crescent leading from the Strand to, well, the Strand in central London. Such things are pretty common in London.

 

 

Another view down Aldwych, with the ever-present double-decker bus. I never could get used to traffic driving on the left-hand side of the street, and almost got myself killed a few times by instinctively looking the wrong way before crossing a street.

 

 

Near one of its intersections with Aldwych. I found myself living off those Pret A Manger shops; they're all over the place, and not terribly expensive. They now have a few locations here in New York City.

 

 

I think this is Tottenham Court Road, not far from the British Museum.

 

 

Another street scene -- possibly Shaftsbury Avenue -- near the British Museum.

 

 

Russell Street, directly in front of the British Museum.

 

 

The new Great Court at the British Museum, designed by Norman Foster. I love that stairway.

 

 

A glassy bridge that connects the cafe to an older portion of the museum. Another example of old and new complimenting each other nicely.

 

 

The cafe at the top of the stairway. The structure of that glass roof above is only a few inches thick, but still manages to span a huge distance.

 

 

Looking up the staircase. This is the largest enclosed public space in Europe, and provides a focal point for the museum.

 

 

Mr. Fayed's little corner store in Knightsbridge, commonly known as Harrod's. In some regards it's an ostentatious tourist trap, but the food halls on the ground floor are a sensory overload. I spent hours just drooling at the sights and smells.

 

 

Residential streets in London often form a short crescent around a small private park. Here's a pretty typical scene in the stunning (and stunningly expensive) Knightsbridge neighborhood.

 

 

Looking across the gardens to the buildings on the other side. I instantly fell in love with this neighborhood.

 

 

A pretty typical street scene in Knightsbridge, not too far from Harrod's.

 

 

A typical row of buildings in Knightsbridge. Beautiful.

 

It only took me almost a week to realize that motor traffic must yield to pedestrians in these crosswalks with the yellow lights. That knowledge could've saved me from a few near-misses elsewhere in the city during the week.

 

 

Battersea Power Station, as seen from Ebury Bridge. Fans of Pink Floyd will recognize the power station from the cover of the Animals album. No floating pigs to be seen today, though.

 

 

What I love most about London is the seamless mix of old and new. It's not uncommon to find an ultra-modern steel-and-glass skyscraper next to a 19th Century pile. Here's the Lloyd's of London building towering above its older neighbors.

 

 

Looking towards Leadenhall Market through the Lloyd's building. The Lloyd's building was designed by Richard Rogers, one of the pioneers of modern British architecture.

 

 

Looking up at the exterior. As you can see, it's been raining. There's a cool atrium inside the building, but it's not open to the public.

 

 

Glass elevators and mechanical ducts on the building's exterior. In this shot it almost reminds me of the Tyrell building in Blade Runner. What a fun building!

 

 

Peering into the glassy atrium lobby of this office building designed by Norman Foster.

 

 

Looking up at the double-layer curtain wall system.

 

 

Did I mention it was raining a lot?

 

 

The Jubilee Line tube station at Canary Wharf. Another Norman Foster project, this one a new Underground station on the Jubilee Line extension. We're looking at an entrance here, with an incredible amount of construction going on in the background. I'm guessing most of those buildings are complete now, and I probably wouldn't even recognize the area.

 

 

This is the space that sits below the glassy entrance canopy. The entire station is built within the shell of a dock formerly used for international shipping.

 

 

On my last full day in London, I had an informational interview at Norman Foster's office, and was given an extensive tour. They were designing a large high-rise project in Chicago at the time and I was hoping they'd open a local field office there ("Please hire me!"), but 9/11 killed the project a few months later.

 

The main passenger concourse at Waterloo. What a cool way to arrive in the city.

 

 

This train shed, adjacent to Waterloo Station, was formerly home to the high-speed Eurostar train that passes through the Channel Tunnel on its way to Paris. The Eurostar now uses St. Pancras Station, which I'm kicking myself for not visiting.

 

 

One day I headed over to Liverpool Street Station and got on a train. My destination: Burnham-on-Crouch, a tiny fishing and yachting village about 90 minutes east of London by rail. Burnham-on-Crouch is where my paternal grandfather was born and raised, and a cousin of my father’s still lived there until recently. I walked around the town a bit, found my grandfather’s childhood home at 5 Albert Road, and grabbed a bite of lunch in a quaint pub. I then called up my second-cousin there in the offhand chance that she would be home, and it turned out the pay phone I used was only about 50 feet away from the houseboat she and her husband live on. She just happened to have taken that day off from work, so she invited me over and we had some tea while we talked for about an hour or so. How’s that for timing?

 

She mentioned that my grandfather always loved London with a passion, and took almost every opportunity to ride the train into the city and explore every square inch of it. Like him, on my days off I would ride the Metra train into Chicago and explore the city while I was still living out in the distant suburbs. It obviously runs in the family. Looking back, I remember him taking me on long walks around downtown Cincinnati, and I guess it’s pretty safe to say I’ve inherited his passion for urban exploration which led me back to London, as well as to seek out a career in architecture. In a sense, visiting Burnham was almost like a homecoming.

 

Liverpool Street Station. Here's where I board the train to Burnham-on-Crouch. No telling how many times my grandfather passed through this space on his many trips between London and Burnham.

 

 

Looking out towards the main train shed at Liverpool Street Station.

 

 

Here's the main business district of Burnham-on-Crouch, the small fishing village where my paternal grandfather was born and raised.

 

 

Another view of Burnham's downtown area. I could walk from one end of town to the other in about fifteen minutes. What a change from bustling London.

 

 

The Quay, Burnham's promenade along the waterfront. My ancestry around this area goes back at least a couple centuries, and many of my ancestors were involved in the boatbuilding business.

 

 

That little white building in the background with a dark green Jaguar parked next to it is an architect's office. Some people have all the luck.

 

 

The River Crouch. We're close enough to the British Channel that tides are a factor here. That little boat on the other side of the first pier was where my second cousin lived. (She's since moved elsewhere.)

 

 

Sailboats don't get much more beautiful than this. But this boat isn't going anywhere until the tide comes back in.

 

 

Albert Road. This is my grandfather's old neighborhood in Burnham.

 

 

My grandfather's childhood home on Albert Road. This modest house had been in my family for decades, and was still home to my great aunt until she died just a few years ago.

 

 

World War II saw my grandfather travel all over the world with the British Merchant Marine. During one of his trips between Liverpool and New York City, he met his future wife at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Manhattan. They kept in touch throughout the war, and got married at Marble Collegiate Church in New York when the war was over. The train ride from New York back to her hometown of Cincinnati was their honeymoon, with everything he owned in two leather suitcases. He soon got a job with Cincinnati Bell laying underground phone lines. By the time he retired, he was responsible for every underground phone line in the city of Cincinnati. He took his US citizenship exam at Hughes High School in Clifton, and raised a family across the river in Bellevue and Fort Thomas, Kentucky. He died in 1993 and is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery.

 

I've been itching to get back to London pretty much ever since I set foot back on the ground at O'Hare. Hard to believe it's been almost nine years already. Each year I tell myself it will be the year I finally make another trip back other there, but other obligations always get in the way. In addition to London, I'd like to explore the rest of the United Kingdom and some parts of Europe. (I also have some substantial ancestry in Germany, but that side of the family has been in the US for much longer, primarily in Cincinnati and Louisville.)

 

Part of me wouldn't mind even living in London for a short time, maybe longer. I end up doing my Masters of Architecture degree at the University of Cincinnati, I may have that chance. UC is known for its co-op program, in which students alternate quarters between full-time work and full-time studies. Co-op assignments can take place anywhere in the world, and if things work out, I wouldn't mind trying to spend a couple quarters living and working in London. Wish me luck.

 

In the meantime, I leave you with the BBC Symphony Orchestra performing Parry's Jerusalem -- England's unofficial national anthem -- at Royal Albert Hall.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88XZMiCT9Cg

 

And did those feet in ancient time

        Walk upon England's mountains green?

    And was the holy Lamb of God

        On England's pleasant pastures seen?

    And did the Countenance Divine

        Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

    And was Jerusalem builded here

        Among those dark Satanic mills?

 

    Bring me my bow of burning gold:

        Bring me my arrows of desire:

    Bring me my spear: O clouds, unfold!

        Bring me my chariot of fire!

    I will not cease from mental fight,

        Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

    Till we have built Jerusalem

        In England's green and pleasant land.

 

    Go take another trip to Europe now. You may never have the opportunity again.

 

    Thanks for the photos.

Right now I'm trying to save up for a long-distance move, a car, and grad school, so every penny is pretty much spoken for. But if my grad school plans don't work out this year, I may look into taking another UK trip this summer as a consolation prize.

Most enjoyable thread! The disposable cameras and rainy weather give the street scenes a dreamy, ethereal feel, like the Holga photography sometimes used for artistic effect.

 

I love how the London stations and others throughout Europe have airy, spacious trainsheds with lots of natural light through skylights. America's big-city stations sure come up lacking in that respect; think of the poorly-lighted subterranean boarding platforms of Chicago's Union Station.

^ Agreed. One of my fantasy architecture projects would be to design a huge European-style train shed behind Cincinnati's Union Terminal for high-speed rail service... Since I'm designing a rapid transit system for my undergrad thesis, maybe I'll save that idea for my masters thesis.

 

    Cincinnati at one time had a European-style train shed on the riverfront on the site of the present Bicentennial Park.

 

 

 

 

   

What a wonderful thread!

Wow, really great thread.

That glass ceiling in the British Museum is simply stunning.

I like the way the photos look; you got plenty of great shots. I noticed that in the UK the lane lines zig-zag near pedestrian crossings to help slow drivers. Don't see why they don't also do the same here along with the pedestrian island.

Thanks... The zig-zag stripes indicate no-parking zones near crosswalks, so as not to obstruct pedestrians' views of oncoming traffic.

London is awesome.  Thanks for the thread!

Great stuff.  Wow does this make me want to see London!