best building in london?

[infinite thought]

Cohen House, Chelsea

By Erich Mendelsohn, 1934-36, in collaboration with Serge Chermayeff.

Conservatory is by Norman Foster at some later date, think it could do without that and all the cars in front.

 

[infinite thought]

goldfinger's house

2 Willow Road, Hampstead. Some existing cottages had to be demolished so that Goldfinger could accomplish his vision - much opposition to this at the time from conservative Hampstead residents. Ha!

The bloke in the photo is dissensus' very own 'modernist tours operator', owen (I asked his permission to post the picture, s'ok). If you're ever at a loose end and fancy looking at lots of early twentieth century buildings built by European emigres, it's ony 50p an hour! tee hee, sorry owen. But he is a walking Pevsner's guide, he really is!

 

[adam]

I realize this is probably a bit gauche but the new owners of 66 Frognal are my godparents. I was just sort of surprised to see it up there!

 

[Ripcurl]

i think the, the most wonderful building has to be the canary wharf tower, you can see it from afar as southend to berkshire,to kent to stansted in essex from a plane!!its awesome when you are near it , it dnt look too impressive but from afar its gigantic, im very into views and vistas. rather then a building theres a very exciting victorian bottle dump on the shores of the thames thats a great way to spend a afternoon, brick lane some of those terraces look at night very sinister!!!!scary

Hello Silverbitch , that old dump sounds great , i too have been known to spend the odd hour trawling across Victorian dumps , although I'm not familiar with yours ??
For me the best building in London is the MI5 building at Vauxhall bridge , don't know why , it just does it for me !

 

[infinite thought]

I realize this is probably a bit gauche but the new owners of 66 Frognal are my godparents. I was just sort of surprised to see it up there!

do they fancy adopting any more (rather too old) godchildren?! you lucky modernist pup!

 

[Rambler]

Wow, that Cohen House is gorgeous.

 

[Gabba Flamenco Crossover]

On a modernist tip, can I put in a vote for the national sports centre in crystal palace? I've started going swimming here recently, and it's top. If you approach it up the parade from the south it appears as a horizontal grey geometric form bisected by all the vertical tree trunks. And the main hall has a vaulted woodlined ceiling supported by slender grey concrete pillars, to mirror the trees in the park outside.

Shame it's so tatty - I think they're going to knock it down soon. Stratford 2012 sealed it's fate.

And for the last word in satanic gothic it has to be the salvation army building opposite denmark hill train sation in camberwell - looks like something out of the Dark Night Returns.

 

[owen]

And for the last word in satanic gothic it has to be the salvation army building opposite denmark hill train station in camberwell - looks like something out of the Dark Night Returns.

yes! this place is incredible, i took loads of photos of it years ago when i lived on coldharbour lane. those statues of the Booths...'PROMOTED TO GLORY'...very low church...

 

[mms]

2 Willow Road, Hampstead. Some existing cottages had to be demolished so that Goldfinger could accomplish his vision - much opposition to this at the time from conservative Hampstead residents. Ha!

The bloke in the photo is dissensus' very own 'modernist tours operator', owen (I asked his permission to post the picture, s'ok). If you're ever at a loose end and fancy looking at lots of early twentieth century buildings built by European emigres, it's ony 50p an hour! tee hee, sorry owen. But he is a walking Pevsner's guide, he really is!

oh yes i've been in there - fantastic building - all tiled out in rubber flooring, square, utilitarian but utterly relaxing to be in - he also designed that towerblock in elephant and castle - been in there too, its a very similar deal - recently a plumber came in there to fix the swimming pools, did the wrong thing and flooded the whole bottom floor with shit.

berthold lubetkins stuff in highgate, finsbury park health centre and the london zoo stuff is excellent, on the same tip.
there is also that wonderful towerblock in bethnal green designed by the same guys who built the ill fated ronan road, was left empty for ages, but is private flats now. Very lovely.
in cotrast the flats next to it were slums, huge piles of rubbish never collected, bizarre spanish gang slogans all over the buildings, everything broken and neglected, it's just recently been knocked down.

 

[mms]

thats the one behind grick lane innit, tucked behind that hawksmoor church.

i used to love that street, but now every time i go past it the houses are a little less shabby. i reckon its charm is waning. you know tracey emin lives along there?

i've been into the hugenot church which was turned into the museum of immigration - at princelet street - one street away from that -the original asylum hideout and the room under rodinsky's famous time capsule of a room that was rediscovered in the 70's. that's shabby, its got beautiful pained blues.

 

[IdleRich]

This is pretty cool.

http://www.urban75.org/vista/cannon.html

 

[Mr. Tea]

Although this may be a conservaive choice,

I do get the horn for St. Pancras Station. It's just great.
Also the architect (can't remember his name) who did teh Russel Hotel and the nearby Waterstones on Gower Place.

 

[owen]

the russell hotel rocks the bells. most victorian gothic is kind of boring, but i like it when they go completely full on with multicoloured brick, ludicrous expanses of crenellations and tentacles. marvellous

also nice for very different is the tavistock hotel nearby, very cool art deco cafe and foyers

went this afternoon to david adjaye's 'ideas store' (i do wish they'd just call it a bloody library, as that is what it is. also the closing of the older whitechapel library was very dodgy- it had all kinds of rare resources and whatnot- bet it'll end up as luxury flats grrr)-anyway:-

is unexpectedly very cool, harks back to brutalism but with more light and colour, and great jagged expressionist light fittings in the cafe

 

[hundredmillionlifetimes]

... most victorian gothic is kind of boring, but i like it when they go completely full on with multicoloured brick, ludicrous expanses of crenellations and tentacles. marvellous ...

And when they completely bypass modernism and go dionysiac-nostalgic post-modern? And then, even more completely "full on":

From Gothic to Gaudi ... (yes, pomo Gothic):

La Sagrada Familia Cathedral (Barcelona)

And below: Casa Vicens, Antoni Gaudí's Carrer de les Carolines, 18-24 Gràcia District, commissioned in 1878.

Moorish Gothic? (Could it even be imaginatively possible?)

Oh yeah, pomo, sugar-coated Glassist brutalism: Japan's Tokyo International Forum

 

[fldsfslmn]

there is also that wonderful towerblock in bethnal green designed by the same guys who built the ill fated ronan road, was left empty for ages, but is private flats now. Very lovely.

Keeling House. There is more information and a couple more too-small pics here .

 

[jenks]

always had a soft spot for this mad byzantine inspired confection - Westminster Cathedral, not to be confused with Westminster Abbey.

 

[IdleRich]

"went this afternoon to david adjaye's 'ideas store' (i do wish they'd just call it a bloody library, as that is what it is.)"

Yeah, that kind of thing drives me mad. When I was reading about the "ideas store" and it's uses I was thinking - what a good idea, why don't they have more things like that? Slowly it dawned on me that we do have lots of things exactly like that and a perfectly good name for them too. What's the point of that name, are they trying to trick people in to going to the library?

 

[luka]

see?

 

[luka]

owen is good on this naturally but i played th Sludge Incinerator trump card and punchd above my weight.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I think the Shard's gonna be pretty cool when it's finished:

Yeah yeah, another temple to Mammon, I know. It kinda looks like something from Bladerunner, though - and Prince Charles hates it, which pretty much seals it as an interesting, innovative modern building.