Photoblog: Architecture of the City of London, or, What I've seen on my ramblings...

Hello Reader,

I have been VERY BUSY the last few weeks, so I must apologise for the lack of post.
However, this means I have seen lots of interesting things, it just means that sadly I haven't had the time to write about them. I very much enjoyed the Manet exhibition at the Royal Academy, so much so that I bought the catalogue. Lots of gorgeous portraits that I would otherwise have never seen. I was hoping to write a post about it, but I fear I won't have the time. However I do have time to share with you some shots I've been taking of various things I've seen in the past few weeks.

As you may know, I've recently started a traineeship in the City of London, and it is a WONDERFUL place to work if you like architecture. There are quirky bits of it EVERYWHERE. From 12th Century churches, to the more famous works of Wren and Hawksmoor, not forgetting the shiny new towers springing up everywhere and even including nice little details on shops and banks. I am often distracted by buildings, and am surprised I haven't walked into many people from looking up all the time. I am very lucky to have a quite decent camera on my phone, so, if I can, I try and capture as many of these details as I can. What I really like about the city is the juxtaposition of the old and the new. Within tiny tiny spaces, one can see something that was built within the last ten years towering above something that, in its day (so probably hundreds of yeasr ago) may have been the tallest building for miles! It's exciting, and if you can't see it for yourself, then allow me...

 CHURCHES

Temple Church

Temple Church

St Stephen Walbrook

St Stephen Walbrook [by Christopher Wren]

St Anne and St Agnes

  

ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS

The Entrance to Drapers' Hall

VIEWS

You can just about see the Tower of London in the distance...

TALL TOWERS

 

and thus brings us to the end of my tour... tune in again for [no doubt] more photos of bits of Architecture that i've spotted on my travels!

Thanks for reading

Jennifer

Jen's beginners guide to architecture. Part I: The orders, or HOW I LOVE COLUMNS

Hello reader,

On the suggestion of one of my most avid readers, my good friend food-blogger Highball Emy, i have decided to do my very own beginners guide to architecture. I have to thank Emy for the idea, as she knows how prone I am to get carried away by exciting buildings. She was one of the people who had to put up with me going ON about columns as i learnt about them at uni and then got very excitable as i was then able to explain away the craziness and eccentricity of the architecture of the Cambridge colleges we walked past on our way to dinner.

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge

So, in my own way, I will try and guide you through one of my favourite things so that in future you might understand one of my gushing rants about a new [or more likely, really old] building I've just discovered. 

  
PART I:  COLUMNS

Before I start, I just thought I would give you a wee diagram so that you know what I'm talking about when I say things like CAPITAL or FLUTING. First thing I learned when I started studying architecture is that there are SO MANY really WEIRD names for bits of architecture, and they are REALLY hard to remember. So I won't bore you with things like this:

What even IS a modilion? 

I'll just tell you the main bits you need to know, and any other extras that I think might be interesting. 

So, columns. They come in all shapes and sizes, but adhere to 3 main types. These types are called orders and the main ones are the DORIC, IONIC and CORINTHIAN. 

You may be thinking - Why on earth do they have these ridiculous names, and how on earth will I remember which one is which? Well this is where my favourite Roman comes into play. 

Vitruvius was a Roman architect and engineer during the time of Augustus. He's SUPER IMPORTANT because he wrote, not one, but Ten Books on Architecture- De Architectura. These ten books, in addition to being the earliest surviving treatise on architecture, tell us a great deal about Classical architecture, written during the time it was being built- in other words, REALLY REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT TO ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY!!! 

But why do we need to know about him? Well, in his 3rd and 4th books he describes the orders and how they were "invented". I use the term invented loosely here, Vitruvius spins some fairly elaborate tales in order to give us a reason for these columns being the way they are. They are probably complete canis excrementum*, excuse my Latin, but they do help you to distinguish the three types, and they do make some sense. Let me show you what I mean: 

The Doric Order

According to Vitruvius, this order was named after a temple built by Dorus, the King of the Peloponnesus, which "happened" to be in the Doric order. Subsequently all temples in the surrounding area [Achaea] had temples built in that same style, and so when the Athenians rocked up [read: invaded] and saw these temples, they in turn began to set up temples in the same style, calling them "Doric" as they had first seen them built by the Dorians. 

Ok. Cool. So far, so Doric. But why does it LOOK the way it does? I'll continue...
The Athenians [being Greek] wanted to create their temple in a more symmetrical and "ordered" fashion, so they set out to give the column a set of standardized proportions. Vitruvius says that they measured the length of a man's foot [1ft] and compared it with his height [6ft] and therefore gave the column a width to height ratio of 1:6 i.e the height of the column must be 6 times the length of the width of the base.  
At a ratio of 1:6 the Doric is the stoutest order, hence Vitruvius' tale of it being based upon the proportions of a man. This is also in fitting with its capital [see diagram!]. Of the 3 main orders, the Doric has the plainest capital, because it is a masculine order. It can often be found in military buildings, mints and strongholds, or on the bottom storey of a building, as being the stoutest, it is also the "strongest". 

The Ionic Order

Vitruvius' description of the Ionic is far less complicated [and less dull- you thought what I wrote was bad, I heavily condensed the real deal, just for you!]. He claims that Athenians [the guys that just created the Doric order] wanted to build a temple to the Goddess Diana, but they thought that the Doric order, because it was based on the proportions of a MAN, would be too manly and therefore unsuitable. UH-OH, dilemna!  
They solved this problem by creating a new order based on the proportions of a woman. They measured the foot and height of a woman and TA-DAH the proportion of the Ionic order was formed. Vitruvius explains the extra adornments of the Ionic order as dressing it like a woman, with a base in the place of her shoes, the volutes [the "scroll" like elements in the capital] like curls of hair, and the flutes [see diagram!] like folds in her robes. This one is usually really easy to spot because of the big volutes on the capital, and is frequently used in interiors, and in "intellectual" type buildings such as libraries and museums e.g. The British Museum

The Corinthian Order
The Corinthian column has the most slender proportions of the three, in "imitation of the slenderness of a maiden". Vitruvius tells a tragic story to explain the appearance of the capital. A young girl from Corinth, [of marriageable age i.e. a VIRGIN] became ill and died before she could be married. After she was buried her nurse collected up her things and put them in a basket on top of her tomb. This basket just HAPPENED to be placed on the root of an acanthus plant, and so when spring came the stalks and leaves grew up over the basket. At this time an architect just HAPPENED to be passing by [a lot of coincidences here, EY VIRTRUVIUS?] and was pleasantly surprised by it, having never seen anything like it before, and so felt he OBVIOUSLY had to design a column after it for the Corinthians- thus inventing the Corinthian order with appropriate proportions to suit a virginal maid i.e. tall and slender. The Corinthian has the most ornamental capital of the three, which fits in with Vitruvius' identification of it with a pretty, delicate young girl. 

Ok. Now I've told you about the 3 order its time for a fun game of GUESS THE ORDER [I do this to EVERYONE who I've ever tried to teach the different orders to. My mum is an expert now and she gets really excited when she gets them right. Its quite cute].

1. I LOVE this building. It even has statues of Inigo Jones and Palladio either side.
WHOOPS that was a bit of a clue.

2.  Some of you will know this building VERY well. But WHAT ORDER IS IT?

3. This "monument" is unfinished and pays homage to an original in another country...

4. Played a starring role in the recent adaptation of Les Mis and ALSO in the 2012 Olympics!

5. Not to be confused with the Parthenon!

Extra points of you guess the NAME of the building. I said GUESS, not Google. Let's not spoil the fun! A hint is that all of the buildings are in the UK except ONE, and they are all places I have visited [all photos are my own!].

Answers in my next post!

Hope you've enjoyed this guide, and I hope it hasn't been too boring or heavy. Do let me know so I can make Part 2 even better!

Thanks for reading

Jennifer




P.S Disclaimer: I am aware that some of the things I've said in this post aren't completely precise. I hope no one will be offended by my somewhat crude generalisations. I didn't want to make it too boring for you to read, after-all, this is a blog and not an essay, and is no place for pedantry!

World book day!

Hey Readers!

Who says world book day is just for children? NOT ME!
I've been at work in the library ALL DAY and not read a single book today! That is so so sad 
:(

But as it's world book day, and I do LOVE books. Today people have been talking on twitter about their favourite books. I can never do that. I find it impossible to list my "all time favourite" things. My favourite things change all the time, depending on what mood I'm in. Also I find it really difficult to rate things in order, especially when some things are so different- how do you compare books of completely different genres or writing styles? And how can you measure your level of enjoyment? Impossible and not worth worrying about. 

So instead I thought I would share with you 3 books I can read again and again. I don't frequently read books twice. I rarely buy books as I work in a library and am saving up money at the moment, and I also try to read as many books as possible, as there are SO MANY books I want to read and so little time. So it seems illogical to read a book I've already read when I could be reading another one. HOWEVER, there are some books which are SO GOOD, which I enjoy so much, and which never seem to get boring, that I can read them over and over again. Here they are:

1. Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding
Oh. My. GOODNESS I LOVE THIS BOOK. This book, for me, is the equivalent of a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows on top- fun, comforting, like a big hug EXACTLY when you need it. Jones is HUMAN and HILARIOUS and has the ability to always make me feel better at times in life when I feel like I have majorly messed up or embarrassed myself.  If you haven't read it yet, seriously, do yourself a favour and READ IT. I don't even know why you haven't already.

2. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Someone at school recommended this to me whilst we were studying Atwood's better-known, The Handmaid's Tale as part of our English Literature A-Level. I borrowed it from the library the next day, and in two days I had finished it. Now it usually takes me a few weeks to finish a book, one week if I REALLY like it and have a lot of train journeys that week [I mostly read on public transport]. But I've never read anything that quickly. This book is compelling. It is structured in such a way that it flits between two narratives- the "present" which appears to be in a post-apocalyptic wasteland version of earth, and "past" which gradually unravels the series of events which lead up to the disaster which caused earth to transform into the world the protagonist inhabits in the present. Like The Handmaid's Tale it is a dystopian novel, a genre which I quite enjoy, like science-fiction but seemingly more grounded in reality- as if it had the potential to happen- you can see clear parallels in the world we live in. It's scary, but it makes you think, and I think a good book should do just that.

3. Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
Ok. I have to confess. I have only read this once. BUT, it was so so good, that I know it is one I will revisit! Ian McEwan is one of my favourite authors and I have read almost all of his books that are available to borrow from the Library consortium. With Sweet Tooth, I really enjoyed his creation of the sense of time and place. I haven't read many books [possibly any!] set in London during the Cold War, and I think McEwan captured the greyness and sense of thick tension perfectly in this. What I really love about reading a McEwan novel is that you really get to inhabit the head-space of the protagonist and this intimacy means you gain a very in-depth view of their interactions and relationships with other characters, something I find fascinating. However, what REALLY struck me with Sweet Tooth was the utter PERFECTION of the ending. That may sound like an exaggeration, but I can tell you, I am rarely fully satisfied with the ending of a novel. Many are lazy, many are rushed, many leave me with several unanswered questions, leaving me frustrated or wanting more. But the ending to this novel is AMAZING and definitely the best, or at least most satisfying I've read so far. If you haven't read it yet, I urge you to give it a go. It's worth it for the ending alone.

And with that I shall end this World Book Day edition of A Life in Arts!

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer

Baroque! From Bernini to Bow Bells.

Hello Reader!

After a short absence I am back! I am afraid it has been a while since my last post, I have recently started a new traineeship with the very exciting City of London Festival and have been very busy of late, so have sadly had little time to tend to my blogging needs. However I am very happy in my new post. I have spent the last few weeks learning lots of things about how the festival is organised and part of that has included visiting lots of STUNNING churches in the City of London, which are used as venues for many of the classical concerts in the festival's programme. 

This has been complete heaven for me.

 Two of my most favourite things ever ever are live classical music [see blog post 2!] and ARCHITECTURE, and so to be able to spend mornings, or afternoons walking around the square mile, round corners and down tiny passageways and roads of the main thoroughfares to suddenly be confronted by great spires, peeking between two office blocks, or eatery chains, is just wonderful. In so many cases, if you didn't know the church was there, you would miss it, as a considerable amount are hidden from the outside, but from the inside are stunning. One that really had a strong impact on me was St Mary at Hill [another aspect I love about these churches is their crazy names- St Andrew by the Wardrobe is my favourite mad name so far!]. I am not going to try and explain why, I think I will just show you, and give you the location so you can googlemap this baby and check it out for yourself!

Another thing I am really enjoying about being a part of the festival is that, by helping out at our Free Winter Concerts, I get to watch them! I feel so lucky to get to spend one lunch-break every week listening to live music, from a wide variety of composers and genres. So far I have heard a Beethoven Piano recital, Jazz singers and the City of London Sinfonia performing works by British composers including Walton, Purcell and Finzi. I KNOW I've already banged on about how much I love live music, but seriously these concerts are GREAT. They are free, in architectural gems, and the music is really wonderful.
For a different way to spend your lunch break and to see what's coming up soon,  click HERE to see the rest of the free winter concert programme. It's a really good taster of what's to come in the summer and it is making me SUPER excited for the Festival to start!

Now enough about what I've been up to job-wise.

As I've been a bit behind with writing posts, and there is quite a lot I have wanted to write about, I thought I would try something different in this weeks post. As I don't have time to write a full blog post for each item (especially judging by how many words I usually end up dedicating to one topic... whoops!) I am going to try out brief summaries, or, "What I'm up to", and perhaps pick one to focus in on a little bit more. Let me know what you think. If we like it, maybe it'll stick.

What I'm Listening to: Finzi: In Years Defaced, Prelude, and Romance for String Orchestra. [Recording by the City of London Sinfonia under Richard Hickox on the Chandos label]. The Prelude was one of the pieces performed in the lunchtime concert last Wednesday by the City of London Sinfonia, and it reminded me of how much I love Finzi. Finzi's Five Bagatelles [in particular the 4th and 5th] were some of the very few pieces I actually enjoyed playing for my final Clarinet exams as I felt they had character and were playful and jolly, not merely exercises for showing off fingerwork or virtuosic scalic passages *cough cough* yes, I'm looking at you Mozart Clarinet Concerto. In short, they were fun, not just hard-work  This CD shows Finzi's more romantic side and, although it is quite gushy, I think is charming, and for me conjures up images of pastoral idyllicism. A very English composer indeed. 

What I'm reading: I started reading The Borgias by Christopher Hibbert, but I'm afraid I can't say I enjoyed it very much, so I stopped reading it. I don't tend to get on very well with history books, or historic fiction that feels a bit like  it's just one thing after the other in a sort of "this-man-did-this-and-then-this-man-did-this-and-this-man-didn't-like-this-man-so-he-did-this". Notice the focus on man. History is often far too male dominated for my liking, and this book was very much from the male perspective. Now I'm getting back into music, I have started reading Why Music Moves Us by Jeanette Bicknell. It's an academic study, looking into how past civilisations and philosophers have treated the link between music and the emotions, and how it effects our behaviour and why. Should be interesting, I hope!


What I'm Watching: Baroque! From St Peter to St Paul's. I LOVE Waldemar Januszczak. I think his programmes are BRILLIANT and this is no exception! It charts the rise of the Baroque from its origins in the Catholic Counter Reformation (taking me back to the paper I studied in final year on Bernini and Borromini) and of course ROME, throughout Europe, to Britain, where he sees it manifest in none other than the fabulous City churches of Wren and Hawksmoor that I was gushing about at the beginning of this post. How apt! It is still sitting on I-player, but not for much longer so I URGE you to watch it. And if I haven't convinced you yet, here are some snaps of FABULOUS Baroque things that I took when I went to Rome myself...

The ceiling of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane by Francesco Borromini

The Ecstasy of St Theresa by Bernini in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria 

The ceiling of Sant'Ignazio by Andrea Pozzo

What I'm visiting: In the last few weeks I've been lucky enough to see both the Light Show at the Hayward and Barocci at the National Gallery. I hope to write separate posts dedicated to each of these, but we'll see.

What have you been up to?

Hope you've enjoyed this post. Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading again,

Jennifer