High Point Two

About a week ago I took a picture of a multi-storey block of flats in Highgate. Looking otherwise ordinary (well, "ordinary" for Highgate which is quite a nice area) it still was an instant eye catcher because of its caryatids (female figure pillars) supporting the entrance canopy:

They looked so odd it must have been done of purpose, but I didn't bother to check until I received a comment on Flickr with a link to the story, and what I learned seemed exciting enough for a blog post.

The architect, Berthold Lubetkin, was actually a prominent modernist well-known in Britain (his architecture group was the first modernist one to be granted a public commission). Originally from Tbilisi, he left Soviet Russia in 1920s with his parents and got to London in 1931.

Despite the emigration Lubetkin retained "strong left-wing political allegiances". Developing as an architect outside of the USSR and Eastern Europe possibly saved his life (his parents residing in Warsaw died in Auschwitz during the war), but there was also something pathetic and also unfortunate about bearing his views and enjoying the fruits of the capitalist society. It was a bad timing - even when post-war Britain started to turn into a welfare state, it was also the beginning of the Cold War: one of earlier Lubetkin's housing projects named after Lenin was then renamed to Bevin Court after the anti-communist Labour Foreign Secretary. Desperate, Lubetkin buried a statue of Lenin removed from the entrance under the famous staircase.

Lubetkin's houses got quickly occupied by middle class residents rather than by workers who were supposed to be "liberated" by the modernist movement. Particularly the High Point II block a picture of which I snapped boasted too good location on a top of the hill even for then-smaller London, and his biggest work - a master-plan for miners' town Peterlee was rejected for being too complex and expensive (even for a constructivist project) for working class accommodations.

Soon he became disillusioned and retired relatively early in 1950.

Lubetkin's legacy is still celebrated - most of his work is protected by listing. There is also an annual Lubetkin Prize in architecture.

So sometimes taking pictures teaches you something new.

***

Back to Highgate, you can walk the area with a widget below:

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Things I learned today

1. That there were green Routemasters...

...as well as RTs:

2. That there is no street lighting at Theydon Bois (and they have never had it). And that it's possible to visit Essex without leaving the M25 and not even using any other transport apart from the Tube.

3. That postal bikes were an early invention:

4. What do the post boxes look like under the ground level...

...and inside:

***

(and I also have more pictures if you're by any chance interested)

Norman Cornish and greyhounds

I've been puzzled for a long time by greyhounds on Norman Cornish's paintings - those subtle creatures don't represent the breed you can easily imagine as a pet of a hard-working man whose life is trapped between a pit and a pub.

Visiting an exhibition today I remembered my question and I was kindly given an answer - those dogs were actually more than pets providing additional income and entertainment by racing. If you skip to 6:00 in this video you can see what that looked like in 80s.

While this tradition didn't completely vanish, there's a lot of buzz about illegal dog fighting and banned breeds owned by working class people today. Racing is still questionable in terms of animal humanity, but it definitely was a better alternative.

A closet hay

If you happen to be in the UCL's main Wilkins building, pay attention to an old wooden closet in its southern wing:

It was closed when I saw it but the name engraved on top made me think that wasn't just a decorated room entrance or something like that. Indeed, there was an explanation on the wall around the corner. Inside, there is a hay-stuffed figure of Jeremy Bentham himself with his real skeleton serving as a frame. Jurist and philosopher, Bentham had very progressive views, especially for his times, so he didn't believe in life after death and stated in his will that his body should be used for the scientific and educational purposes.

The remains aren't locked all the time and sometimes Mr Bentham even leaves his shelter either to attend the University Council meeting ("listed as "present but not voting") or to become a subject of student pranks:

However, it proved an irresistible target for students, especially from King's College London, who stole the head in 1975 and demanded a ransome of £100 to be paid to the charity Shelter. UCL finally agreed to pay a ransome of £10 and the head was returned. On another occasion, according to legend, the head, again stolen by students, was eventually found in a luggage locker at a Scottish Station (possibly Aberdeen). The last straw (so runs yet another story) came when it was discovered in the front quadrangle being used for football practice, and the head was henceforth placed in secure storage.

I should say that I now have a strong respect for that man!

The Mandela Way tank

A Soviet T-34-85 tank in Southwark is rather famous and has even got its own Wikipedia entry. Originally brought to the UK from Czechoslovakia to be filmed in Richard III set in alternative 1930s Britain (hence tanks and airplanes were required), it went then to a scrap metal dealer and finally to its current owner Russell Gray, a South London developer.

The story of its settlement on the street corner is sometimes regarded as an urban myth as it's too good to be true:

It sits on a rough piece of land belonging to Russell Gray who wanted to build flats here. His planning permission was turned down and so he asked instead to build a tank. Assuming he meant septic tank, permission was granted and Mr. Gray placed a Soviet era T-34 on the land with the gun turret pointing towards the council offices.

There is no direct access to the tank as it is fenced in a kind of a community garden which doesn't look taken care of very well. Still it keeps getting a paint job from time to time and it also features some odd objects inside the fence, e.g. an old telly on the right track.

You might get an impression that it's decaying slowly (as I did myself), but then obviously a tank is a thing which is a bit hard to destroy. Take care in the new year, you steel comrade.

A plaque on the bridge

Walking down the river Lea today we have discovered a blue plaque at the least expected place, on a railway bridge across the marshes:

We've been there before and wouldn't have noticed it this time again if not given a clue from a bypassing friendly old-timer. That bridge and the marshes are the very place from where the first all British airplane first took off for its 30 metres flight in 1909. The only difference is that it used to be in Essex before London spread outwards:

The plane, one example of which is now exhibited at the Science museum in London, was built by an English pilot A.V. Roe. Once a supporter of the British fascist movement, he then had his two sons killed whilst serving with the RAF during WW2, and the company he founded contributed enormously to Allied victory.

Duck and cover

This army vehicle we found near the Maritime museum in Greenwich last weekend from the very first moment appeared too familiar to me. Still, I struggled to remember why do I recognise it:
...until today I saw that post in my reader. Yes, that's what all those jolly yellow tourist wagons looked like once long ago.

In defense of dog's name

A small tombstone in the very heart of London marking the grave of German ambassador's pet Giro is much more famous than could be expected. Buried beneath a tree near the massive Duke of York column, the Alsatian died in the accident in 1934 is usually called "Giro the Nazi dog".

Which is not true.

Actually, I used to refer to that grave as "the Nazi dog" as well until today I learned that Giro's master Leopold von Hoesch was actually the last ambassador of Weimar republic in UK. After Hitler had seized the power, he despised the new government's decisions and denounced the invasion of the Rhineland. His funeral in 1936 are indeed known as "the Nazi funeral" but it's hard to blame von Hoesch for that as he attended the ceremony being dead.

And by that moment poor slandered Giro had been dead for two years already. So let's remember that next time showing his grave to our friends visiting the city.

Last bob standing

I was told today that the King's Head pub theatre in Islington I wrote about before was the last place in London to abandon the old currency system for the decimal.

Every payment made by customers had been being converted twice until the cash register machine broke at 1980s and it became impossible to obtain new parts for it.

Long-term consequences

Yesterday I accidentally learned why so many barber shop fronts sport red and white stripes as the main elements of their design.



Distinctive striped poles are also often drawn or attached near the entrance, in latter case spinning and producing the "endless spiral" effect.



The short and unlikely explanation of that is that during medieval times barbers also offered dental and bloodletting services, so even today the symbol of their craft is the metaphoric representation of white bandages and red blood.

That's cool.

A blast from the past

If anyone is interested, I have received a comment to my post of 2009 explaining why I wasn't able to find lion sculptures described in the old textbook.

"Death is terrible, tho' borne on angels' wings!"

While taking a short cut today through what was looking like a small garden we have stumbled upon these two monuments:



They are only a couple of paces away from each other:



Speaking of Daniel Defoe, I had been struggling back in the old days remembering "The Treasure Island" and "Robinson Crusoe" authors (more precisely, remembering author of one book as the one of the remaining and vice versa). I was blaming the fact that both books are read by Russian kids at the same age, often one after another and also translation made them look more similar than they really are.

However, today the myth was busted - apparently, British people have the same problem. At least I witnessed a British company arguing near Defoe's memorial if he was the author of the "The Treasure Island" or "Robinson Crusoe", until they noticed the engraving.

P.S. While browsing Wikipedia before writing this post, I learned that Bunhill Fields cemetery is an "ascendant" of our local Abney Park being probably the first London burial ground which tolerated Nonconformists.

Before the BoB

From The Right Of The Line by John Terraine:

On the contrary, there was an influential body of opinion which would have liked nothing better than to abolish military aircraft altogether. Notable among these in 1931 was Stanley Baldwin, Lord President of the Council, and soon to be Prime Minister for the third time, and Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary of the Cabinet and of the Committee of Imperial Defence [...] "it would be worth a lot to get rid of submarines and aircraft (which I have advocated for a long time)"

Soviet War Memorial

Usually:



And today:

Steam day

If you remember that steam engine I wrote about before, you might be interested in watching it in action. Today was one of the days on which that mechanism is brought to life:



And a small machine, Karlson-on-the-Roof's delight. Note that it is the same "beam engine" as the big one in the clips above:



That

was

fabulous.

Easter holidays (day 2 of 4)

Today we've been to Walthamstow visiting William Morris Gallery.

Can't say I loved his design (which is very respected and even considered iconic in England) much - well, it's quite impressive when thinking of manual operations needed to produce those things in XIX century but - you know. On the other hand, political side of that gentleman's life to all appearances was interesting indeed, and the exhibition was really nice giving enough information, names and keywords to search then for the details, and actually raising the willingness to do this.

But what I loved most was this shoulder bag from 1880s looking *exactly* like modern ones. Amazing, isn't it?



And that's the corner of the gallery seen from the park behind the building:

Steam'n'gleam

Markfield Beam Engine museum (wiki) was open today for the first time this year. To be honest, I expected something semi-abandoned (you know, a small museum in the area with no tourists etc.) and boringly dusty, but surprisingly the well lighted building was full of people.

The engine which had been pumping sewage for the Tottenham till 1905 is a perfect piece of Victorian era engineering. Really, seeing and being able to touch that is a great entertainment:



Now the main thing - today, after the reconstruction at 1970s, it's fully operational. Moving pivots and plungers are greased with oil (threatening your clothes), and tools with spare parts seen around aren't just a decoration:



On April 5th it will the first so-called Steam Day of 2010 - the engine will be working, again available for public access. Woo-hoo! We were offered of steam clouds and authentic noise, and I only regret for not being a child.

An Englishman's home is his castle

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An interesting story I was told today about this small white house disrespectfully breaking a big store apart. When that store was about to be built, one of the those owned houses at the future building site refused to sell his property to be demolished. Nevertheless, the store was built, but with a jag at front, which is still there.

Additional terms

Reading The Abolition Of Slavery (you can get this free ebook in Mobipocket format) revealed an interesting fact about US history, concerning the procedure of slaves emansipation. This procedure was difficult to perform without facing a contradiction with existing legislation (as the Congress initially refused to interfere with the institution of slavery).

The solution was found in putting this civil problem under the war jurisdiction, as Congress had limited war authority and the powers of war were limitated by the laws of the nations only. And according to the war powers slaves belonging to an enemy were regarded as belligerents first of all (for they had supported enemy's economy with their labour).

So, Southern slaves were being first taken as captives and then set free as a prisoners of war. Released captive is a free man, so it resulted to slaves in loosing their previous status. More exactly, not loosing but becoming free people in addition, which was enough to prevent masters from reclaiming their property back.

What has drawn my attention in this story is how it was necessary to become a prisoner first in order to become free.