architecture

  • architecture,  Art Deco,  travel

    Art Deco is 100.

    Art Deco is 100! Yes it is 100 years since the Paris exhibition that launched the name of this most modernistic of styles of architecture, fashion and jewellery that took its cues from geometric shapes and patterns, from Egyptian motifs and from streamlined ideas that incorporated the brightest and boldest of colours.  It was a style that was perfect for the bright young things of the 1920’s Jazz Age, but also worked well with those bias cut styles of the 1930’s era (where most of the episodes of the Agatha Christie Poirot series were set), and then had a massive resurgence in the 1960’s – think Biba with its gold…

  • architecture,  travel

    A Seaside Architecture Photo Story – Weymouth & Portland

    Today I’m continuing with my Odyssey through the British seaside through its buildings, and I’m turning my attention to Weymouth and Portland. This is my favourite part of the Country, a place where I have spent holidays over the past two years, and where I hope to return again and again. It has glorious beaches, is very traditional when it comes to architecture, and has a lovely selection of shops and restaurants, as well as amusement arcades that keep my teen happy. Weymouth became popular during the Georgian and Regency era, specifically during the reign of George III, who often visited for medicinal purposes, to take in the sea air.…

  • architecture,  fashion,  travel

    Seaside Architecture – A Photo Story

    Seaside architecture has always been a passion of mine, from the first time I spotted Blackpool Tower from a coach window as a little girl. I love those strange buildings that you only find by the sea, the lighthouses, the seaside shelters and those wonderful Victorian survivors – the piers. I love the fact that Art Deco and the seaside seem to be a partnership made in heaven, with beautiful streamline moderne hotels and lidos that speak of a time gone by. And I love the brightly coloured guest houses that litter many sea fronts, looking bold and beautiful whatever the weather. When I first planned this post it was…

  • architecture,  Art Deco

    Stafford Art Deco Architectural Gems

    A trawl around some of the wonderful, surviving Art Deco buildings of Stafford Town Centre. Stafford College Tenterbanks Building This building was built in 1937 and was used as an American Hospital during World War two. It is an impressive, opposing building with so many art deco period details, including a range of carvings. This is a grade 2 listed building that spans Tenterbanks Street and then curves around Victoria Street.   Former Odeon Cinema  The former Stafford Odeon is now in the process of being transformed into a live music venue. It was opened in 1936 as one of the smallest Odeon’s in the chain, and was designed by…

  • architecture,  Birmingham

    Birmingham Heritage Week – Celebrating Birmingham – The Brutiful Years

    On Sunday I attended one of the events that made up part of this year’s Birmingham Heritage Week. Brutiful Birmingham have recently launched their first book, ‘Birmingham The Brutiful Years‘, a celebration of the Brutalist architecture that abounded upon the city in the 50s, 60s and 1970s, some of which is now protected, others which are still under threat of demolition and redevelopment. The book is a love letter to these buildings, seen as the exciting future at the time of conception, as innovative, space age and ultra modernist, but now having to fight for their right to be, as the age of glass boxes threatens to erode all that…