Temple Bar photo-archive

The former Temple Bar from  afar, seemingly absorbed into Sir Chris' northwest tower of St Paul's Cathedral. - the new alley slightly out of alignment with the implied axis

Click on the image for a full size version

For other views

New City Architecture Award for 2008

The weather having reached the required degree of dreadfulness, it is time for the chosen assessors to consider the schemes which are eligible for the 2008 New City Architecture Award. This Award is presented annually (usually at the Livery Banquet) to the building or scheme which makes the most significant contribution to the streetscape and or skyscape of the City of London in the qualifying year. Buildings must be deemed, by the City Planning Department, to be complete free of planning conditions.

The assessors this year are: Paul Finch (Chairman), Alderman Sir Robert Finch, The Master, The Renter Warden, Assistant Dr Mervyn Miller and Liveryman Mrs Anne Markey. They will be assisted / shepherded by the Clerk.

While they make no promises that such views will be taken into consideration the Assessors would, nonethe less, welcome any views readers may have on the merits of the following short-listed schemes:

1 Old Jewry / 36-39 Poultry; architects - Sheppard Robson

120 Cheapside; architects - Fletcher Priest

10-15 Gresham Street; architects - KPF Architects

St Paul's Churchyard (South West) - Landscaping etc; architect - Martin Stancliffe

Caroone House, 14 Farringdon Street; architects - SOM

Lime Street Scene Enhancements; architects - Street Scene Team Corporation of London

Fen Court Street Scene Enhancements; architects - Street Scene Team Corporation of London

New Street Square, London EC4; architects - Bennetts Associates

Any comments can be made via the blog and should be recorded in the near future if you seek to influence the judges!

G F Watts exhibition at the Guildhall art gallery

The English Michelangelo

Believe or believe it not, this was the popular title accorded to George Frederick Watts (1817-1904) at the peak of his painting career. You can check out whether you agree with this over-the-top complement by looking at his pictures in an exhibition now on at the Guildhall Art Gallery, running until April 26th.
Watts had a long life and a prodigious output and was enormously successful financially, very much in the Damien Hirst manner, leaving some £24M, at today’s values. Determined to enhance the painter’s reputation and maintain the commercial value of her inheritance, his widow built a gallery devoted entirely to his works at Compton in Surrey.

Born in London into a family with a piano business, he showed early promise at drawing, attended the RA schools and, aged 21, set up his own studio, gaining success as a portrait painter although sadly and perversely his ambition was to be an historical painter, following his hero Benjamin Haydon. He won the highest premium in the competition for mural designs for the new House of Parliament and, with this in his pocket, set off in1843on a ‘Grand Tour’ lasting two years. On his return, backed by an aristocratic and wealthy band of patrons, Watts became the leading portrait painter of the day despite his high charges. But this was all to a purpose because it allowed him to make a mid-career change of direction driven to paint subjects rather than people, ideas rather than portraits and social allegories rather than scenes.

Is he ‘Dickens’ of the visual arts?

His most famous work in this genre in the exhibition, entitled ‘Hope’ (see above), is a melancholy painting showing a blindfolded beggar girl seated on a rock plucking a single string of a crude wooden lyre. It had extraordinary impact at the time and also since; Nelson Mandela had a reproduction of it on the wall in his cell on Robben Island; the Rev. Jeremiah Wright the former pastor to Barrack Obama based sermons on it and its themes of hope were taken up by the President in addressing Democratic Conventions; and another Watts painting ’Love and Life’ was selected by President Roosevelt to be hung in the White House.

Watts’ reputation slumped after his death and, like much Victorian art, remained in the doldrums for many many years. Perhaps the time has now come for a re-assessment.

A post sent in by WCCA Past-Master Michael Welbank, who is Common Councilman for the Billingsgate Ward. You might be interested in reading his own blog which deals with general City matters as the elections for the Court of Common Council approach in the month of March. CLICK HERE

...........how to use this blog

CLICK HERE

110th Court and Luncheon at Cutler's hall - 27 January 2009 - celebrating 25 years of the company

Three new students were inducted into the Company, having been introduced by the Master (sic) of Students Jaki Howes. Michael David BAILEY was bound to Edward King, India WILLS to the Master Ian Head and Zoë SPITTLE to Michael Wilkey.

Zoë

India

Michael

The Master, Ian Head, and his new trio

WCCA travel scholarship

the deadline for applications for the 

2009 WCCA travel scholarship is

 3 MARCH 2009

the new 'private page'

We have introduced a second 'private' layer to this blog so that the Master and Clerk may post more privy matters to the members of the Livery in a discrete way.

So far, five members of the Court have been invited and now have access to this private layer, having completed the requisite registration.

25th anniversary of the founding of the WCCA, 1984 - 2009

click on the pictures for larger versions

Spot the Frank Lloyd Wright Influence?

Spotted by the Clerk on a family visit to the snowy wilds of South Eastern Ohio was the Bossard Memorial Library in Gallipolis - suitably decorated to reflect the festive season.

Apart from being an excellent resource in an area which has been feeling the financial pinch for some time now the entrance to the library perhaps offers a tribute to the master's design for the VC Morris Gift Shop in San Francisco. It must be said that all resemblance starts and ends with the entrance - sadly the budget for a library did not run to the opulence of the iconic 1948 Gift Shop. Nor did it run (to the regret to one who has a passing interest in good brickwork) to the walls surrounding the semi-circular entrance feature being in bonded brickwork. Still, one can't have everything.

On the off chance that readers would like the chance to see the FLW original, it is on the itinerary for the San Francisco section of the forthcoming Company Architectural Study Trip to the West Coast USA which runs from 16 April to 1 May.

Please contact the Clerk for details - there are still places available. Book now to avoid disappointment.

1000 visits to the WCCA blog

We have now had more than 1000 visits to the WCCA blog site.  

We hope it has been useful to the liverymen and freemen of the Company and that it furthermore allows those at a greater distance to participate in the various activities of the Company in a very 21st century way.

Keep looking in - and help us to get to the next 'order of magnitude' of visits 

- that is 10,000 visits!

The Lord Mayor's Show

Pictured in one of the rare sunny spells on Saturday 8 November, the new Lord Mayor of the City of London - Alderman Ian Luder - sets out from Guildhall Yard to be greeted by an enthuisiastic if damp crowd. He was supported by a wide selection of bands, floats representing an enormous cross section of activities and interests and several collections of Morris Minors - the brand seemingly celebrating its 60th anniversary. Some participants were better prepared for the rain than others.









































The Master and his Wardens - pictured below before they set off for the march - took part in the procession as part of the Modern Companies' Float - a singularly apt description given the conditions.



There are, by way of explanation, some 30 Modern Companies which are those founded since 1926 - there was a gap of almost 200 years between the founding of the oldest of these Companies (the Honourable Company of Master Mariners) and the next youngest Company. This group of Companies includes organizations representing a wide range of professions and business organizations which would not have existed in medieval times.

After the outward journey the procession takes an hour break for lunch while the Lord Mayor takes his oath of allegience to the Crown (and a light lunch) at the Old Bailey. Those marching make do with a packed lunch arranged by the organizers supplemented by such liquid refreshments which may be available in the rest area. The option for Company members who were viewing proceedings was rosier - lunch was offered at Plaisterers' Hall where the Master Plaisterer had kindly organized entertainment for the children (of all ages).

Stephen Wagstaffe - a recently elected Steward of the Company - found that part of his duties included being volunteered to help performing artists on such occasions to do silly and perhaps dangerous things. With a few fellow volunteers from the other Companies present, he helped to form something of a human pyramid to allow the juggler to mount his ludicrously high monocycle before being asked to pass the artist several villianous knives which were then juggled to the consternation of both Stephen and others in the firing line.

Thanks are offered to Alan Downing for the use of his photographs of the occasion.

The Company's Travel Award 2010

The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects (or the 'WCCA' abbreviated) exists to raise awareness of architecture in the City of London. Its Charitable Trust is a registered charity and administers its own educational scholarships. The Company is a useful social and professional network and organises among other things visits to buildings and architect's practices. New student members are most welcome.

If you are a current student of architecture, are interested in this scholarship, and would like more details, please contact:

Mrs. Jaki Howes

Master of Students

e-mail: jaki.howes@btinternet.com

mobile: 07711 817491

Every year the WCCA offers a travel award of £2000 to enable a student (or students) that are in the first year of their Part 2 course to carry out travel research in preparation for their final year.

The WCCA TRAVEL AWARD is available to students at any of the London architecture schools, and for the second time this year, it is being administered by the RIBA.

Full details and application forms are available on the RIBA website. The closing date for an application is 26 March 2010.

If you would like further clarification after visiting the RIBA's site, please contact me at the addresses above:

...............Jaki Howes

Temple Bar photo archive - November 2008

This photo archive of the relocated Temple Bar offers uncopyrighted images of the 17th century gateway built to designs of Sir Christopher Wren. Formerly a gate to 'the square mile' of the City of London and located on the junction of today's Fleet Street and The Strand, Temple Bar has been re-located to be part of the development of Paternoster Square, to the immediate north of Sir Chris' great cathedral.

A plaque marks the connection of the Worshipful Company with the relocation process.

Pictured right is an image of the plaque sited in the Upper Chamber
of Temple Bar which commemorates the Company's support for
the relocation of the monument and its contribution to the costs
of fitting out the Chamber.


The image files are of about 1200 pixels square-ish, in jpg format, processed for easy web distribution. They are each about 250k in size.

If you click on an image, it will open a new browser page at the larger size, big enough to seem impressive on most computer screens. From there you may down-load any individual image to your own machine.

Olympic Park - Visit to the London 2012 Site

The first of a series of visits for members of the Company and of other construction related Livery Companies to the main site of the 2012 Olympic Games has been arranged for Thursday 5 February 2009 at 2.00pm. The size of the party is limited to 30.

The visit is tio be a technical one comprising a full site tour and a discussion on the Master Planning, design and development processes. Final details are awaited.

Bookings need to be made to the Clerk by Monday 19 January to enable him to submit the list to the Company's event co-ordinator - Patricia Stefanowicz in good time for her to arrange the necessary security passes.

It is intended that this be the first of a series of visits over the coming years.

Followers

Writing a blog, like all writing, is a rather lonely activity. Each post is shot off into the e-choing e-ther when one hits the publish post button. But is anyone out there....?

FOLLOWERS are simply those who read and follow the blog. Now one can show the author that you really are there, and further, show this fact to other readers. It can build a sort of community of interest, as it also allows one to get in contact with other readers of the blog.

So how does one become a follower?

(sounds a bit biblical, n'est-ce pas?)

On the top panel on the left there is a Follow this Blog button that highlights in red when the cursor is over it. Click on it to reveal a dialogue box. It asks you to get a Google account (this is 'free'). This allows Google to connect other followers to your e-mail address, all fully protected with your own password. You can then decide to remain mysteriously private to the world, or - more confidently - have your picture added along side those in the community already displayed.

(24 October 2008 - 2 followers so far)

Go on - try it out!    You know you want to.......

Coming Events

The Company's October Newsletter has just been sent out to members and a copy is posted above. but here are the dedited highlights concerning coming events.


There is to be a visit to St Paul's Cathedral in the company of the Surveyor to the Fabric of the St Paul's - Martin Stancliffe - a Freeman of the Company. Martin will show a small group around the ground floor and triforium areas.

The tour, commencing at 6.30pm, will be followed by a Reception in the Upper Chamber of Temple Bar which contains a plaque commemorating the role of the Company in supporting the relocation of the building and, in particular to the furnishing of the space.

Full details are set out in the Newsletter and early booking with the Clerk is encouraged as numbers are limited by the comfort capacity of the Upper Chamber of Temple Bar itself.


The Annual Carol Service is to be held on Wednesday 10 December at the Church of St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside comencing at 6.30pm. This will be followed by a supper at Furniture Makers' Hall from 7.30 to 9.00pm. Again, numbers will be limited to ensure that seats at supper are available for all who book and to avoid the necessity of disgruntled diners depositing their dessert course onto the Clerk's shoe - presumably by way of protest at the lack of seatring accommodation!

There is to a 25th Anniversary Lunch at Cutlers' Hall on Tuesday 27 January 2009 following the January meeting of the Company's Court.

Details of all these events and others which are in the planning stage for later in 2009 are included in the newsletter along with news of the recent Company visit to Dresden - a few images of which city (courtesy of Alan Downing) are shown below.

Newsletter Issue 14 - Oct 2008

Newsletter 14 Revised

WCCA New City Architecture Award 2007

The plaque for this WCCA award made in 2007 has now been mounted at the foot of the new tall 'Willis' building, just next to the famous 'expresso-machine' Lloyds building.

July 2008 Newsletter

july 2008 newsletter - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: july 2008 newsletter

Visit to St Pancras Station

There is to be a visit to the new St Pancras Station Building followed by an illustrated talk by Alastair Lansley - the architect responsible for the reconstruction of the station on Tuesday 9 September - 4.00 to 6.00pm.

The visit will take the form of a meeting adjacent the newly constructed west wall of the Station followed by a walk through of the terminal building before meeting up in the German Gym on Pancras Road (almost opposite the main entrance to the International Terminal). This is where the talk will take place.

There are still a few places available for this event which is being shared with the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers who gave the St Pancras Building their 2008 Award for Brickwork.

Please contact the Clerk if you are interested in joining the group.