Below: I love every bit of St Pancras station. It has been so beautifully restored; the grimy brick of my childhood also had its charm (I remember when Scammell Scarabs plied the Midland Road). I can imagine Victorian railway officials at work, poring over forms, in those windows to the left, as smoke billowed over the turreted rooftops.
Below: hidden behind London's main streets are the mews - the stables in which rich folks' horses were kept, and above them stables for coachmen, grooms and ostlers. These days mews, with their historic character and cobblestones make for desirable residences for many a million.
Below: Regent Street, looking south. There are 12 days of Christmas, but none of them fall in mid-November. The Xmas lights are up, reminding us to part with our money to buy things we don't need. I mean for Christ's sake, Black Friday's still four days away...
Below: into the City of London, Bishopsgate (one of the Seven Canonical Gates of London - Aldgate, Ludgate, Moorgate are the ones that most readily spring to mind). Bricktorian Britain jostles with the New.
Ah now! This is interesting! The corner of the Old Brompton Road; a grocery store goes out of business, the shopfront is taken down, and a ghost sign appears - and what an interesting one! Borgward was a postwar German car brand that itself went out of business (in 1961), not before producing some nice cars (the Borgward Isabella coupe was particularly attractive). The sole concessionaire for the UK market was Metcalfe & Mundy Ltd. All history now - worthy of note.
This time last year:
First snow. first frost of the year
This time eight years ago
Childhood memories of Warsaw
Nice photos. Years ago I visited an architect working in a studio in a former mews building. he told me that, when functioning as a stable, a ramp allowed horses to reach the first floor, enabling more to be housed in one building.
ReplyDeleteBorgward isn't defunct anymore!
ReplyDeleteChristian Borgward, company founder's grandson, has been trying to resurrect the brand recently.
Now they sell, or rather are trying to sell, Michael Dembinski's favourite sort of vehicles: SUV's. Chinese-made ones.
Enjoy: http://borgward.com/
@WHP - plenty of mews in Edinburgh too!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous - the Borgward SUV looks identical to any other two-box SUV in black - the kind of vehicle that cluttered Yanukovych's garages.
Can't someone create something more in keeping with the spirit of the times?
Frankly, the electric Lime rental-scooter has more zeitgeist about it than this throwback to the late 1990s.