The Temple Bar in Fleet Street in 1819

An engraving of the Temple Bar

taken from the 120 Views in  

The Picture of London for 1819

being a correct guide to all the curiosities, amusements, exhibitions, public establishments, and remarkable objects in and near London

- twentieth edition -

published for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown,

Paternoster Row, London

and sold by all booksellers and at bars of all the principal Inns and Coffee-houses.

[Price 9 shillings, Bound]

feedback received

The Temple Bar at Theobalds Park

This painting shows the now-relocated Temple Bar - designed by Sir Christopher Wren - in its longtime temporary location, Theobalds Park.  The Bar, a gateway which represented the furthest extremity of the City of London to the west, was originally located at the junction of Fleet Street and the Strand.  When it was demolished in 1887 as an unacceptable obstruction to the growing traffic, it was transferred and rebuilt at this country estate between Enfield and  Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.

This painting is by Sandra Walker RI and was commissioned for the WCCA by Past Master Alan Downing.  Sandra Walker was born in America. Since moving to England in 1987, Sandra has been awarded Britain's most respected watercolour prize, the £15,000 Singer & Friedlander / Sunday Times Award for Best British Watercolour.  She was commissioned by prime minister Margaret Thatcher to paint the Houses of Parliament for the Thatcher Foundation, recently winning the Grand Prix at the late lamented Trégastel Salon International de la Peinture à l'Eau in Brittany, France.

Sandra's work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including those of Senator Edward Kennedy, John le Carré and Margaret Thatcher.  In 1999 she as elected as a member of the prestigious Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour.

Information about the painting can be had at alandowning@architects-livery.fsnet.co.uk

Responding to the Great Debate

For those who worry about these things there is a long running debate about the relative merits of the red wines of the Old and New Worlds. In an attempt to throw some light on this matter a selection of members of the Chartered Architects' Company met with their opposite numbers from the Constructors' Company to carry out a blind tasting at the Naval Club in Mayfair. There was a competitive edge to the event with a prize of a bottle of bubbly for the outright winner.

Ten wines - 5 from each of the old and new worlds - were cunningly disguised in plain wrappers. Disconcertingly two ports or port style wines were included. Comprehensive tasting notes were thoughtfully provided for all ten plus a couple of others not on test. Some of the descriptions and names, contestants were advised, may bave been fictitious. The challenge was to match the wines with the descriptions. Easy, you might think. Not so. There was a great deal of convivial chatting to offer distraction from the job in hand and the organizer had thoughtfully provided nibbles to help soak up any potential harmful efects of the alcohol. Some had suficient salt or spice content to dull even the most discriminating palatte.

When the results were announced at the end of the evening it emerged that the Architects' team was triumphant with a Past Master Architect and a Guest/ colleague of the Master Architect identifying the most correct matches.

Then followed a drink off featuring a mystery wine. Sadly neither succeeded in identifying its parentage though both managed to notice that it was both sweet and white. The tie breaker came down to as guess about the age of the wine. This produced the winner and the Runner Up and there were two mentions in despatches - one going to the Master Architect, the other, to a member of the Constructors' team.



















The winner and friends A Past Master hazards a guess about age

On the question as to whether the Old or New World wines were preferred or better, no decisions were reached. There may need to be a further challenge.

It's tough work but someone has to do it!

Newsletter Issue 15 - Feb 2009

February 09 Newsletter Final

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Periodicals & Report february 2009 newsle

Bells, lots of bells

In the average year there are a number of events which the Master is called on or invited to attend. Many might be described as routine Livery occasions - lunches, dinners, lectures, exhibitions etc; others are far from the ordinary. Such an occasion took place on Tuesday 3 March when the Master, the Clerk and the Clerk of the Trustees were invited to attend The Solemn Consecration of the New Ring of 12 Bells at Wren's delightful St Magnus the Martyr Church situated close to the Monument.

This service has not, we were reliably informed, been carried out in London for more years than most can remember. The story goes that the previous set of 10 bells were removed from the tower in 1940 to save that from damage. This turned out to be a wise precaution in one sense. There was damage and the bells were saved. After the War they were taken to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (from where they had presumably originated) where they sat around until 1976. At this stage someone (and no one was naming names) decided that they were not to be rehung and should be broken up, melted down and the metal re-used on some other set of bells. Given the time, this seems to the casual observer to have been an extraordinary piece of vandalism. It was also something of an own goal as various stalwarts among the loyal congregation were also broken or perhaps cut up and mounted a campaign to have bells restored to the tower.

Not content to have just 10 as before, they went for broke and commissioned 12 from the Whitechapel Foundry. We arrived to find the bells lined up in strict order of height down the nave of the church. They were suitably dressed up in what looked suspiciously like left over Christmas decorations and so placed as to impede any sensible procession of clergy, City dignitaries and Livery Masters seeking to take their seats.

The service, presided over by the Bishop of London, took some time. There were, after all, twelve bells each of which had to be washed, anointed, baptised (all were named after saints, some of obscure origin), and incensed. This last procedure involved the wafting around of considerable quantities of incense to the accompaniment of a quite delightful rendition of 'Stedman Cinques' on Handbells rung by Past Masters of the Ancient Society of College Youths (the organization to which City Bell Ringers belong). The proceedings were interwoven with some delightful singing from the choir and clergy.

The service was followed by a reception hosted by The Lord Mayor in Mansion House and it was here that the Master, Ann Head and the two Clerks were photographed enjoying some good company. In all probability they were probably doing nothing more than expressing their relief that there had only been 12 bells!

The bells are now to be hung in the tower and will have their first outing on Easter Sunday.

The local residents - if such exist in this corner of the City - will have no excuse for sleeping in on the day.

New City Architecture Award 2008

Rarely does the day dawn fair when the Company's chosen assessors set out to review the short-listed buildings for the New City Architecture Awards. This year proved the exception. The assessors - comprising the Master Ian Head, the Chairman, Paul Finch, The Renter Warden Edward King, Dr Mervyn Miller, Anne Markey and the Clerk, David Cole-Adams set out to look principally at the buildings illustrated below. Decisions were reached over a bottle (or two of wine) and the Award (and possibly a Commendation or two) will be announced at the Company's Livery Banquet on Wednesday 1 April. It would be interesting to see if the judgement of casual readers of this blog coincides with that of the judges.

The results with the citations will be posted following the Banquet.
























1 Wood Street by Fletcher Priest Architects
























5 Fleet Place by SOM



30 Gresham Street by KPF Architects










Fen Court - Landscape Scheme by City of London Corporation Street Scene Team


New Street Square by Bennetts Associates


1 Old Jewry / 36-38 Poultry by Sheppard Robson


St Paul's Cathedral South Churchyard Improvements by Martin Stancliffe /Purcell Miller Tritton

Please book your tickets for the Banquet at Drapers' Hall on Wednesday 1 April and see if your judgement was in accordance with that of the judges.

WCCA Travel Award - 2008 - Steve Neumann reports - 17 Feb 2009

Steve Neumann

the way to Japan

Takasaki Masaharu in his office

a typical Masaharu project

The recipient of the WCCA travel award for 2008, Steve Neumann, gave a short talk about his 2008 voyage to Japan to visit the works of the renowned architect Takasaki Masaharu.  The talk took place in the architecture school of the University of Westminster, which Steve himself attends.

The audience at the talk, a mix of architecture students and WCCA members, firstly heard a report of the trip itself; then they heard advice from Steve to hopeful applicants for:

the 2009 award, for which the closing date is 

3rd March 2009.

click HERE for an application form

    Jaki Howes - 'Master' of Students - introduces Steve Neumann's talk.

Visit to London 2012 Site

We can pick the weather to go on an site visit! On Thursday 5 February a coach load of seekers after enlightenment from the Chartered Architects, Engineers and Plumbers Companies met for an initial look at the site of the 2012 Olympic Games. After a week of snow and ice it had the decency to merely rain as we were driven around the site in a coach whose seating arrangements would have done an Easyjet flight to the Coata Somewhere proud. We had both a PR lady and an architect from the ODA with us and they struggled to answer the battery of technical questions thrown at them. In a moment of quiet embarrassment they advised that a significant percentage of the workmen on the site were British. The embarrassment arose from the fact that the PR lady was antipodean and the architect from ODA Italian.

The photos above and alongside are courtesy of Tom Ball. The panorama being taken from the top of the Stratford Station Car park.

As can be seen the structure that is most advanced is that of the main stadium.

The Company intends to arrange these visits on a frequent basis so that we can monitor the progress. Hopefully the weather will be better and we will get something more by of specialist input from the technical team. Our colleagues from the Engineers' Company have also promised to invite us to meetings they have in the pipeline to deal with specific issues such as transportation and infrastructure.

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.