The original Moulin Rouge

Photographed by Albert Kahn 1914 - the year before it burnt down. Discovered this picture on a favourite blog of mine - Vintage Photography.

Olden Days Tube

An incredible collection of old tube pictures by photographer Bob Mazzer. Born and bred Bob has an affection for tube life which comes across in these images. In some ways nothing has changed - in others - so much. Fascinating. See more pictures and info on Spitalfields Life blog here.

Cauliflower Teapots

I saw one of these on the telly the other day. It seems like a funny thing to have, kind of kitsch. But if you look at the prices of some of these, they aint so kitsch! The tall one is for sale at around £8000 and dates back to 1760-1770. As well as cauliflowers, the bottom right one is a melon and the bottom left is a pineapple. I think maybe the cauliflowers are the winners in my eyes.

A picture is worth a thousand words

David Goldblatt is a South African photographer, who devoted his life to documenting his country during and after the apartheid. In an interview here, he tells us why he chose to stay in South Africa when the apartheid began. Unfortunately I missed the recent exhibition at the Barbican.

Another time capsule!

If anyone knows of any others of this standard, please let me know!

This is the home of Ada and Leon Kagen, who have lived in this house for 57 years in a leafy suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

Their son, whilst studying a bulding diploma, was amazed to find a slide of the family house pop up whilst in an engineering lecture at college. It was apparently one of the first houses in this area to use concrete slabs in it's construction. The house has remained pretty much the same since the 50's and is in brilliant condition - including a notice board in the then teenage boys bedroom. Read more about the family and the house and how it came to be on a design blog here.

St Paul's Studios, Talgarth Road

I remember seeing these years ago, stuck in traffic on the Mega Bus! on a long and painful journey to I can't remember where. Blocked it out of my mind. But these buildings stayed. Not knowing that part of London however, I didn't really have any info or the whereabouts to go back and have another look.

I spied these on good old Tumblr though and it all came back to me. I think what made the buildings stick in my mind so much are the huge windows dotted along the front of the building.

Some more investigation shows that the building was designed by Frederick Wheeler (1853–1931) and was financed by James Gunter (an English confectioner, market gardener and property developer) who wanted `specially designed to suit the requirements of bachelor artists and with accommodation for a housekeeper on the lower floor' (info stolen from Wiki)

The buildings are situated close to Baron's Court station, should you want to go have a look for yourself.

image from here

Fairs on the Thames

A funny time of year to be writing about the Thames freezing, however I have just been reading a book by Virginia Wolf, Orlando. In this she describes the Thames freezing over and fairs taking place actually on the Thames.

According to Wiki, "During the Great Frost of 1683–84, the worst frost recorded in England, the Thames was completely frozen for two months, with the ice reaching a thickness of 11 inches (28 cm) in London. Solid ice was reported extending for miles off the coasts of the southern North Sea."

At the frost fairs, there would be entertainment, fairground rides, puppet shows, plays and fires would even burn on the ice.

film still (Anonymous 2011) shows London Bridge and the ice. Image from Daily Mail site.

images from wikipedia

Some other images of the Thames frozen:

1963 - Thames at Windsor from Thames site

the Thames in the 50's from here

Housing estates, old and older

Has anyone been watching the BBC program "The Secret History of our Streets?" Last night was about Arnold Circus in Shoreditch, somewhere I have always found fascinating to walk around. The program informed us that Arnold Circus (now grade II listed) was The first housing estate in the UK, although failed in that it couldn't afford to house the areas poorest of poor.

There still seems to be quite a community feel in Arnold circus though, despite the obvious changes in the area. I have yet to catch a band at the band stand in the summer, which looks great. 

Arnold Circus 1901 more fascinating pictures here.

On a slightly different note, I love a bit of 60's architecture and the fact it causes so much debate.
My sister, Alice told me about the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate she lives near, and I was intrigued. I now walk past the estate every day on my way to work so have done a bit of research. See their community website for more information.

images from Open Buildings

They have a great website with a brilliant film made by the residents. "it's great, apart from the dog shit' is all one resident had to say. As with most of the housing architecture of the time, it was a bit of a social experiment, so there are some elements that fail and some that don't.

Beautiful Princelet Street

I came across these beautiful images online of a house on Princelet Street, off Brick Lane. Number 4 to be precise. I used to walk down this road everyday on my way to work and try and stare in the windows with not much luck. So it's nice to see these.You can see more on their site.

There is not enough wood in modern homes is there?! I did some more research and discovered that you could buy another house on the street for £2,250,000 (ouch!) Number 19 Princelet Street also looks pretty incredible, built in 1719. The first occupants were Huguenot weavers, much later in 1869 Jewish settlers errected a synagogue in the garden which I think is what is pictured below.

image from thebrimstonebutterfly.blogspot.com

You can read more about this place on this site. The place requires much needed funding apparently to save it, check out their site and donate. Finally, I discovered that 24 has been almost completely rebuilt, see below, an interesting article about it on Spitalfields Life.

image from Spitalfields Life

Go to Wiltons Music Hall!

Finally went here last night for a few drinks. Its tucked away in a quiet part of town hidden behind a few council estates. I didn't get to see the main hall, we went to the bar which is open any day of the week. I will definitely be going back for a proper event. Perhaps Barbara Windsor opening the tea and cakes afternoon!

There are some nice pictures on this blog, which show the beautiful decaying details of the place.

They desperately need funding to help save the place as they lost out on a bid from the Heritage Lottery trust. So go and show your support! www.wiltons.org.uk