For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.
Where are the Centre Point fountains? (16.04.13)
There cannot be many post-war buildings which have stoked up as much controversy as Centre Point. Designed by Richard Seifert this brutalist building was completed in 1966 and at 398ft was the second highest in London.
Controversy did not stop at its uncompromising design as the building remained empty long after its completion. Centre Point’s developer, Harry Hyams, sat on a rising asset as its capital appreciation far outweighed the rental income with the added bonus that the un-let office block did not attract rates.
Nestled at the windy base of this building, caused by the downdraft as the wind hits its upper floors, once stood a blue mosaic-lined pool with five triple-tined Y-shaped fountains.
Operators of these fountains had an idiosyncratic approach to when they should be turned on. On hot summer evenings girls waiting for the Astoria to open would sit on the fountain’s parameter wall staring at an empty pool safe in the knowledge they would remain dry. On windy winter nights, aided by the downdraft from 35 storeys above them, hapless pedestrians walking past would get soaked.
Now where these iconic Grade II listed fountains once stood there is what must be the largest hole in Europe with Centre Point teetering on the precipice as engineers construct a new station for Crossrail. When finished in their place will sit two wonky glassey pyramids which the designers describe as crystal sculptural forms.
The Centre Point fountains were the work of German artist Jupp Dermbach-Mayen who built the fountains at his Swiss Cottage studio in 1963. The Twentieth Century Society claim the planned removal of them was symptomatic of a wider problem of post-war art being separated from its architectural context.
Those infamously-sporadic concrete flower fountains will be missed, though . . .
On 7 June 1977 more than one million people lined the streets of London to watch the Royal Family on their way to St Paul’s at the start of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations
An unrepealed law from 1313 makes it illegal to wear a suit of armour when entering The Houses of Parliament
The oldest apartments in London the Albany, Piccadilly founded in 1770 were until recently bachelor only accommodation and banned women
Measurements of skeletons at Christ Church Spitalfields are shorter on average than their medieval forebears probably caused by pollution
Her Majesty The Queen cannot enter The City of London without first asking permission from The Lord Mayor a ceremony performed at Temple Bar
A series of animal shapes have been highlighted in the London Underground map, first discovered by Paul Middlewick in 1988, created using the tube lines, stations, and junctions on the map
The top 50 tourist attractions in the world six are in London Trafalgar Square is 4th with 15 million visitors a year 44th is the London Eye
Bearing in mind the limited number of words that rhyme with ‘taxi’, users of rhyming slang must have greeted the arrival of Joe Baksi on the boxing scene of the 1940s with great delight
Heathrow Airport was the world’s first international airport to be linked to a city’s underground when the Piccadilly Line connected in 1977
Since 1910 the Goring Hotel has been run by the same family. It was the first in the world with full central heating and en-suite bedrooms
Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood, Queen’s Park and Epping Forest are actually owned and managed by The Corporation of City of London
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