TOWERS AND GALOSHES

 

Four Limehouse views with the tower of St Anne's hovering proudly. Featuring railway arches, an old pump station, modern upmarket housing, Docklands Light Railway.

It's an area that has repeatedly reinvented itself. When St Anne's was first built there were still large stretches of open ground, often used by rope makers to stretch out and weave the various types of long rope needed in the age of sail.

I think this may be Hawksmoor's best church tower in terms of proportions and overall design. A good balance between invention and tradition. 300 years old and still gracing the skyline. If only it's function remained just as relevant.

 

This is the back alley I use to walk to the shops. Edwardian terraces I think. The point of the photo is the slate damp proof course. Superceded by bitumen felt and then by plastic.

Is that still the dominant material or has there been pushback on environmentalist grounds? I'm not quite up to date on that but I'm guessing that black plastic still rules the roost.

No agenda here. I just enjoy spotting these little details as I walk around.

 

Memory is about making connections in the brain. Making and reinforcing. It seems that connecting two unrelated ideas together makes things much easier to remember (mnemonics) Famously memory experts walk around a childhood house, placing a long list of things to remember on chairs or shelves.

I have had difficulty remembering the term Guilloche... (the classical running ornament shown here) I solved this by linking to the word "galoshes". Stupid but effective.

 

The thing about a "style" is that it has all these typical features with names. At first this might seem restrictive. Painting by numbers. Mere repetition. But anyone who has worked in a well-established style knows that there is virtually infinite room for variation and personal expression.

You can collect dozens of examples of guilloche from buildings around the world, all slightly different. This one happens to be Basingstoke, top of town. A freize running across brickwork in Flemish Bond. Rather lumpy, flush pointed and painted out in white, but still Flemish Bond.

What's with all the lead flashings? I wish I knew. Anyway that's the quirky detail that I noticed on my morning walk today.