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 . . .

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.

The toughest place to be . . . (09.04.13)

I was contacted last year by the BBC inviting me to apply for the new series of ‘toughest place to be’, in which they planned to take a London cabbie out of his (or her) comfort zone and place them in a city where driving could be best described as challenging.

After reading the e-mail my wife and I speculated upon which city the hapless cabbie would find themselves trying to earn a living. We both concluded that one of the most chaotic cities in the world was Mumbai.

So when the programme was televised recently it was no surprise to find London cabbie Mason McQueen travelling to India’s most populous city.

Mason’s most and mentor was Pradeep Sharma who lives in a tiny two-bedroom house earning less than £10 a day driving his cab.

It wasn’t long before Mason finds driving on some of the busiest and most congested streets in the world. Far worse than London’s, in sweltering heat in a vehicle without air conditioning, he managed to carefully avoid the sacred cows, get his passengers on the side when getting lost and did all this with good humour.

But the most touching part of this documentary was the change in Mason’s perception of life. Starting out by complaining about life in London from his Epping home his first reaction upon seeing the slum where Pradeep and his extended family live is one of horror.

Later he is shown other cabbies who have come from the countryside to make a better life for themselves living in squalor 6-8 in a room sending their money home to a family they see only twice a year.

But the life-changing event is seeing a young mother with her children living under a flyover, sleeping on the central reservation of the busy road as they try to scratch a living by selling homemade brushes.

The documentary showed us how bad we may think our job is, and all London cabbies have those moments, others doing the same job have a much harder time.

At the end of the programme, Mason is seen in a cabbies hut trying to raise money to send back to India.

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.

Cracking Ideas (05.04.13)

Reading recently that the Temperate House at Kew Gardens was to close for maintenance my eyes started to glaze over, that was, until I read that the Grade I listed building is the largest Victorian greenhouse in the world and that they were planning to dismantle the structure pane by pane at a cost of £34.3 million and that the restoration project will not be completed until May 2018. Since opening in 1863 walking through this Victorian gem has been enjoyed by countless people over the years. The purposes of other glass projects have been more opaque.

New Crystal Palace: The pod is designed to provide a unique space for visitors to see modern sculptures whilst enjoying distant views of the city. This design by architect WilkinsonEyre at 150m long looks more like Martian invaders have arrived. The curvilinear glazed structure appears to float above the trees and is powered by photovoltaic cells illuminating the spaceship at night. Access to the interior would have been via the world’s longest travelator. More images of the proposal can be seen here.

Old Crystal Palace: After the Great Exhibition of 1851, it was decided to move the Crystal Palace from Hyde Park and proposals were invited to redesign the building. By far the most imaginative idea came from the architect Charles Burton who proposed stacking the iron frame upwards to fifty storeys. This made Burton the first man ever to suggest building a skyscraper, some 30 years before the Americans claimed the accolade. The reconstructed salvage would have been placed where the Albert Memorial, opposite the Royal Albert Hall, currently sits, and was projected to be a thin obelisk 1128ft tall wobbling up into the Victorian sky.

Crystal Span: The 1960s was a decade of change for teenagers not dressing like their parents, men with long hair, and even the word teenager was relatively new. So into this brave new world stepped a group rejoicing in the name ‘The Glass Age Development Committee’. They proposed building a bridge – The Crystal Span – it was to be 970ft long and 127ft wide. Provision for motor vehicles on its lower deck, while above were to be seven levels comprising shops, an extension to the Tate Gallery, a hotel, skating rink all topped off with a roof garden and an open-air theatre; a modern vision of the medieval London Bridge. That all sounds great except for one small design fault, costing an estimated £109 million at today’s prices it was to be built of – err . . . glass. This piece of blue sky thinking was not their only brainwave. Taking their inspiration from the Crystal Palace with its glazed panels (before it burnt down) the committee had wanted to clean up the shambles that was, and still is, Soho. Thankfully this earlier proposal was also abandoned.
Mind you one of their schemes had some merit, they wanted to demolish Staines and build an entire glass city call Motopia.

Ultimate double glazing: Despite being completed in the late 1890s when the Prince of Wales literally opened Tower Bridge this much loved homage to Victorian twee gothic it wasn’t long before certain mid-century efforts to ‘improve it. W.F.C. Holden thought that the bridge would be greatly improved if it were encased in glass and steel. Unsurprisingly, not many people agreed.

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.

Southbank House (02.04.13)

This Building of the Month is Southbank House an industrial building divided up into units.

When England was at its industrial zenith the shores of the Thames now has the busy Albert Embankment running along its edge. One of the potteries’ most famous products appears regularly on the BBC’s Antique Road Show where delighted owners of Doulton salt glazed stoneware pieces designed by George Tinworth or Hannah Barlow are told to their delight the high value of their possessions.

To meet the demand for hygiene by Victorians John Doulton started making pipes and sanitary ware, but by 1860 had diversified into art pottery and by 1878 had built his charming factory in dazzling terracotta.

Tucked behind the London Fire Brigade’s headquarters standing on the corner of Lambeth High Street and Black Prince Road this Victorian gem, renamed Southbank House, is easily overlooked.

At its peak, 370 artists and 2,000 people worked within its walls, employed making these decorative pieces.

The surviving part of the Doulton pottery factory is a single corner block, most ornate at the corner, where the original entrance once was located. To my mind, this is one of the most excellent examples of terracotta work in London.

A round steeple protrudes from the corner of an Italianate tower. Complex designs in red, pink, and orangeish shades of terracotta encrust this corner, with scrolling, dark blue tiles with flower and semi-abstract patterns, and blue half-spheres.

Above the closed-off corner entrance is a sculptured plaque by the aforementioned George Tinworth of potters and traders at work, signed GT.

The side of the building down Black Prince Road is less ornate but high up are gargoyle-type dragons and some sculptured details – pillars and ideal heads in niches.

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.

Just Desserts (29.03.13)

Maids of Honour: A personal favourite of mine. Just opposite Kew Gardens is a rather quaint tea room selling these puff-pastry cakes containing a rich melange of almonds, cinnamon, butter and brandy named after a famous terrace in Richmond. This was built for the ladies-in-waiting to a former Princess of Wales, Caroline of Anspach, who lived at nearby Richmond Palace.

Sandwiches: Those resourceful Romans are said to have stuck meat between two slices of bread to make a convenient way of eating on the move, presumably when conquering their European neighbours. But the name sandwich is attributed to John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. His family insist that he invented its creation to allow him to work on Admiralty papers, but those less charitable suggest that it was more likely he was rather busy at White’s gaming tables. The current Earl of Sandwich has resurrected his ancestor’s invention and given his name to a chain of upmarket sandwich shops.

Champagne: Don’t mention this to our Gallic cousins but in 1662 Christopher Merrett having moved from Oxford to London demonstrated at The Royal Society how to make champagne, a full 30 years before Dom Perignon started his famed tipple.

Peach Melba: The Savoy’s famous chef Auguste Escoffier was credited as creating this dessert for opera diva Dame Nellie Melba. The combination of peaches, raspberries, redcurrant jelly and vanilla ice cream were combined to protect her precious vocal cords prior to her appearances at Covent Garden.

Chelsea Bun: On the corner of Pimlico Road and Lower Sloane Street before the antique dealers arrived selling Georgian furniture, there stood a famous bun house royally patronised by Georges II, III and IV. Note the genuine light fluffy article containing raisins is always square.