Art Deco London

Work is taking me down to London a few times during June and July. The first of three visits took place last week. I caught a train late Wednesday afternoon ready for a meeting the next day. It’s not much fun sitting in a budget hotel room near Euston, so I decided to get out for a wander around Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia.

London’s a different world from a northern town like Wigan. So much more hectic and busier and with a lot more activity and things to see even while just mooching about. I’m fairly familiar with Bloomsbury as you’re in the district as soon as you step outside Euston station, but, even so, I often spot something I’ve not noticed before while I’m out “street haunting”.

Bloomsbury and nearby Fitzrovia are noted for Georgian and Regency architecture. But in amongst the neo-Classical squares and crescents there are other types of buildings, including a few in the Art Deco / “Streamline Moderne” style from the 1930’s. Here’s a few photos – some I’d seen before but a few I’d noticed for the first time. The light wasn’t great for photos, unfortunately, but here’s a few snaps anyway.

Block of flats on Coram Street, Bloomsbury

Former Bentley Garage

University College London, Senate House, off Russell Square

The doorway of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
I sat my BOHS Certificate oral examination in this building many years ago

This building on the Edgeware Road looks like it used to be a cinema

Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the BBC, on the corner of Portland Place and Langham Place, Fitzrovia. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932

The sculpture of Prospero and Ariel  by Eric Gill on the facade of Broadcasting House.

Middlesex House in Fitzrovia. A 5 storey office building erected in 1934 that was previously a garment factory

Another view of Middlesex House

Art Deco building, Dublin

During my visit to Dublin last week I spotted this Art Deco building in D’Olier Street. It’s the former headquarters of the Dublin Gas Company, built in 1928.

Northampton architecture

After my visit to 78 Derngate, I didn’t have much time to have a look around as I needed to get back on my way down the motorway. But I did manage a brief stroll through the town centre.

This Art Deco style block of flats, Bedford Mansions built in 1935 is immediately opposite the house.

This is the Guild Hall, a very grand neo-Gothic building, built between 1861 and 1864

A little further along the road, this neo-Classical church, All Saints. It was built in 1675 to replace an older, Medieval church that was largely destroyed  during the “Great Fire of Northampton“.

Quite a mix of styles in a relatively short distance!