Rear elevation of Spencer House facing St James’ Park at 27 St James’ Place Photo © Heather Shimmin Spencer House was built by the first Earl Spencer, John, in 1756-66, on the edge of Green Park, just across the park from Buckingham Palace. It was one of the most ambitious aristocratic homes ever to be built and today it is the only surviving private mansion from the 18th century in London. Between
Exterior of the Globe Theatre on the South Bank, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside. Photo © Heather Shimmin Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is the result of one man’s vision to have an accurate recreation of the Globe Theatre built not 300 yards from where the original theatre on the banks of the Thames stood until 1642 when it was shut down by the Puritans. Sam Wanamaker, an American actor and producer,
Front elevation of Apsley House, 149 Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner, London Photo: English Heritage Number One London is Apsley House, home of the Duke of Wellington. Little has changed in the home’s interior since he lived there in the 19th century. The Duke of Wellington moved into the house after his victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. Apsley House was built for Lord Apsley and originally was a red brick
Front Elevation of St George’s Bloomsbury, 6-7 Little Russell Street, London Photo © Heather Shimmin In 1711, worried about England’s spirituality and the deplorable lack of churches, Queen Anne ordered 50 churches to be “built of stone and other proper materials, with Towers or Steeples to each of them” in the City of London and Westminster. Only 12 were constructed, 6 of which were by
Sir John Soane Museum & House 12-14 Lincoln’s Inn Fields The Soane Museum is a set of three houses, Numbers 12, 13, and 14, on the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. Soane designed the house as both a home to live in and as a space to display his vast collection of plaster casts, statues, artifacts, drawings, paintings, and much more. Not all of the spaces are open
Roof Explorer’s Guide:101 New York City Rooftops by Leslie Adatto and Heather Shimmin, Contributing Photographer Shortly after I moved to New York, I met Leslie Adatto at a rooftop garden party. I had just moved here from London and was finishing up my Master’s thesis on London green roofs. We bonded over our love of rooftops and living in the cities we love (New York and London). She told me about
Front entrance to the Freemason’s Hall 60 Great Queen’s Street, London © Heather Shimmin DESCRIPTION The Freemasonʼs Hall is the headquarters for the United Grand Lodge of England. This is the third Freemasonʼs Hall to be built on this site. The Freemasonʼs Hall is designed in an irregular pentagon pattern with the Grand Temple at the centre. The architects were H V Ashely and F Winton Newman, who also designed the Council House extension and Art Gallery
Swiss Church London, 79 Endell Street. Photo © 2011 Heather Shimmin DESCRIPTION The Swiss Church London was built on Endell Street in the 1850s (the original church was built on Moor Street, Soho in 1775) and was listed Grade II by English Heritage in 1973. The Swiss Church has just recently completed a major multi-million pound makeover. The redesign was done by Swiss Architects Christ & Gantenbein and was completed right before Open House London. The aim
The Rejuvenation of a City Mathew Street is to Beatle fans what the Via Dolorosa is to Christians: walking down it is life changing and at the heart of the experience in the Holy Land. Hundreds of thousands of people walk down Mathew Street every year. Most are tourists, but in the evening, Mathew Street draws hundreds of locals seeking a pint (or five) and some good music. The successful regeneration of Liverpool as
Sketch of the Viceroy House in New Delhi by Edwin Lutyens MAKER: Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944) TITLE: Viceroy’s House, New Delhi: sketches in a letter by Sir Edwin Lutyens to his wife, Lady Emily: Preliminary Design, Viceroy House, New Delhi, India VIEW: Top Drawing: Perspective Drawing, exterior, looking east at elevation Middle Drawing: Perspective Drawing, exterior, south elevation looking north Bottom Drawing: Detail Drawing of pith-helmut chattris DATE: 1913 MEDIUM AND SUPPORT: Ink on
The sun setting on the reconstructed Globe Theatre in Southbank, London, England Photo ©Heather Shimmin Is there validity in reconstruction, in creating a facsimile, a copy, a replica? Can a reproduction be just as valuable as the original? The answer is yes and the evidence is Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GLOBE THEATRE Wenceslaus Hollar’s “The Long View of London from Bankside,” 1647 (detail) There have been three
Can Turtles Live on a Green Roof? an experiment in biodiversity and microecosystems above the ground Sedum, native plants, and an apiary atop a roof in Brooklyn, NY. Photo ©Heather Shimmin Three stories above street level on 2nd Avenue in Brooklyn, NY, an experiment in the creation of a micro-ecology is taking place. Drought-resistant plants, butterfly bushes, an apiary, and now a pair of Eastern Box Turtles have been added to