London Architecture – a travel blog

by Julie Tetel Andresen | September 6, 2016 |

Note: I spent the last week of August in London. Visiting London gives a sense of the cityscape. In this post I’ll delve into London Architecture.

Georgian (1714-1830). When I visit London, I stay in Bloomsbury, an area chock full of Georgian architecture.

Bedford Square, built between 1775-1783 as an upper-middle class residential area

The hotel where I stay, the Grange White Hall on Montague Street, is adjacent to Bedford Square. The buildings in the neighborhood are low, not more than 5-stories.

Here’s Woburn Walk, a short pedestrian lane in Bloomsbury.

The fourth shingle from the left is S’TRIM, a salon where I got my hair done one afternoon. I have a thing about getting my hair done around the world.

In sum, Bloomsbury has a lot of painted white brick terraced buildings with black wrought-iron fences and decorations.

Mid-17^th – Early-18^th Century. The Age of Christopher Wren

After the London Fire, architect Christopher Wren rebuilt some 52 churches.

Great Fire of London. 1666

St. Paul’s Cathedral is considered to be his masterpiece.

St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1675

Here’s a view of St. Paul’s from the Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian walkway across the Thames.

I took this picture of St. Paul’s from the south end of the Millennium Bridge, facing north.

Behind me, on the south bank of the Thames, is the New Tate Modern museum.

The Bankside Power Station was converted into the New Tate Modern and opened in 2000. New galleries opened in 2016. The Tate is one of the UK’s top three tourist attractions. Here you get an aerial view of the Millennium Bridge.

Stuart (1603-1714)

Inigo Jones was the first architect to introduce the classical architecture of Rome and the Italian Renaissance to Britain.

Here’s another St. Paul’s, this one by Jones:

This classical church was constructed in 1633 and is in Covent Garden

Jones’s Banqueting House, Whitehall, construction started 1619. It is the only remaining component of the Palace of Whitehall.

There are a couple of contenders for the oldest surviving house in London, which is to say they escaped the Great Fire, and they’re both on Cloth Fair, a street in City of London: