Journal from History of London through Architecture class - 8 sessions

Southward London

LONDON BRIDGE STATION
London Bridge station was the first station in London and also one of the oldest railway stations in the world. The original station was built with a wooden trussed pitched roof, 56 ft by 212 ft (17m by 65m), shortly after opening. In 1838, the station was enlarged by the London and Croydon Railway. It was widened again y the Greenwich Railway from 1840-1842. After that the Britain’s railway industry observed the merger of London and Greenwich Railway as a threat to the new joint committee of the Croydon, Brighton and South Eastern companies. Competition was under high pressure – later in 1847, the Croydon and Brighton companies merged with others to form the London Brighton and South Coast Railway. The station was then an adjoin station between two companies. An Act of Parliament of 1862 gave the LB&SCR power to enlarge the station further. This had a single-span trussed-arch roof measuring 88 ft by 655 ft (27m by 200m) and was designed by J.

•Location: Bermondsey and Tooley Street, south of the river Thames

•Date of building: The station was first opened on Feb 1836 and was London’s first railway station.

•Description:

–Scale: The original station was built with a wooden trussed pitched roof, 56 ft by 212 ft (17m by 65m)

–Structure: the public concourse has been ‘comprehensively redeveloped’ in a mindless speculators recipe of a twenty-storey tower and supermarket-type low building. The original building lies behind, and the simple elegance of the fine and slender cast-iron trusses (painted white) over the platforms to the right is a rebuke to the crass and lurid space frames of the concourses outside.

GUYS' HOSPITAL

The hospital was founded by Thomas Guy in 1722 to treat the “incurables”. Later, supported by the government, the hospital was granted the south-side of St. Thomas’ Street. The hospital was expanded over the centuries.. These original parts of the hospital are now administrative and social accommodation – Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

34 storey Guys’ Tower was added in 1974 (143 metres high, designed by Watkins Gray) – this is the tallest hospital building in the world – 143 metres high. The latest building added is Thomas Guy House in 1995, known as Phillip Harris House before. There are currently 8,000 staff working in Guy’s hospital and St. Thomas’ hospital. The Guy’s Dental Hospital is also the largest dental hospital in Europe.

•Location: St. Thomas Street, SE1 – in the borough of Southwark in south east London.

•Date of building: 1722

•Architect/Designer: Richard Jupp

•Description:

–Scale: the tallest hospital building in the world, 142.6 m with 34 floors.

–Structure: The original buildings comprised a courtyard facing St Thomas Street, comprising the hall on the east side and the Chapel (Boland House), Matron's House and Surgeon's House on the west-side and the Old Guy’s House located in the south side.

–Materials: Portland stone

–Construction: Two inner quadrangles were divided by a cloister which was later restyled and dedicated to the hospital's members who fell in World War I. The east side comprised the care wards and the 'counting house' with the governors 'Burfoot Court Room'. The north-side quadrangle is dominated by a statue of Lord Nuffield who was the chairman of governors for many years and also a major benefactor.

THE SHARD BUILDING

The Shard Building/The Shard/Shard of Glass, previously known as London Bridge Tower, located in Southward London, expected to be finished in 2012, will be the UK’s and Europe’s tallest building.

Renzo Piano, the architect of the building, is an Italian architect, best known for creating Paris’s Pompidou Centre of Modern Art with Richard Rogers.

Piano considers the slender, spire-like form of the tower a positive addition to the London skyline and believes that its presence will be far more delicate than opponents of the scheme allege. He proposes a sophisticated use of glazing, with expressive facades of angled panes intended to reflect light and the changing patterns of the sky, so that the form of the building will change according to the weather and seasons.

•Location: Bermondsey and Tooley Street, south of the river Thames

•Date of building: expected March 2009 – May 2012, with cost around £450 millions

•Architect/Designer: Renzo Piano, developed by Sellar Property Group.

•Architecture style: Modern Architecture – glass windows on the outside with steel/concrete core supporting the building.

•Description:

•Scale: height of antenna being 310m, height of roof 306m, 87 floors including radiator, floor area around 111000 square meters.

•Form: tower with slender, spire-form

•Structure: 72 floors and additional 15 radiators in the roof (Floor 4-28 are for office space, 53-65 are for residential apartment, and other floors are for services)

•Materials: glass, steel & concrete.

–Construction by Mace, using five cranes.

GEORGE'S INN

George’s Inn was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London that destroyed most of medieval Southwark. It is London’s only remaining working example of the inn type, predecessor of both the model and the theatre (northern side missing). The interiors (more of 18th century) stile provide a plausible impression of an inn’s hospitality; generations of brewers’ improvements have been accomplished discreetly.

•Location: 71 Borough High Street

•Date of building: 1676

•Architect/Designer: Unknown. The building is currently owned and leased by National Trust.

•Architecture style:18th century motel

•Description:

–Form: motel, also as theatre and bars

–Structure: The ground floor of the inn is divided into a number of connected bars. The Old Bar used to be a waiting room for passengers on coaches. The Middle Bar was the Coffee Room, which was frequented by Charles Dickens. The bedrooms, now a restaurant, were upstairs in the galleried part of the building. The courtyard was the prototype for theatres in London (there used to be three courtyards)

–Materials: bricks.

HOPS EXCHANGE

The Hops was introduced to England from Netherlands and are still used in the brewing industry. In the 19th century, raw materials for beer were brought to the market to trade, brew and sell. A glass roof allowed business on the trading floor of the Great Hall to be conducted under natural light. After the fire in 1920, two storeys were removed and the exchanges become offices.

•Location: 24 Southwark Street.

•Date of building: 1866

•Architect/Designer: R.H. Moore (according to Wikipedia)

•Architecture style: Classical building (columns and arches) with Victorian decoration.

–Form: marketplace/floor exchange

–Materials: stucco and cast iron

•Construction: restored by Peer Group Plc,

BOROUGH MARKET