November 13th – Snatched evening shots in a busy city. Birmingham is still curiously beautiful at night, and I do still love it so. Just gearing up for the Christmas rush, it was frenetic, but not yet frantic.
There’s much to love in the urban night.
November 7th – And in Lichfield itself, as night fell, a dark blue sky, urban surfaces and electric light.
I think I might be getting the hang of the darkness again…
November 3rd – intrigued to note that the Kings Hill Methodist Church in Darlaston is still undergoing extensive work to convert it to flats 12 months after the conversion started. This is clearly no cheap, quick fix – the work has involved relining the roof, with all the tiles removed and replaced, skylights added, and I was pleased to note today all the lead stolen from the front gables had been carefully replaced.
It’s been fascinating to watch this transformation and I’m keen to see the results. What I thought would surely be some bodge has turned out to be respectful, skilled and so far, very sensitive to the original building.
Meanwhile, the metal poppies in the railings of the adjacent park are a wonderful touch, especially at this time of year.
November 1st – Gentleshaw Church, like that of Kings Bromley, shows something that I think deserves wider attention, but makes me somewhat outspoken.
Victorian architectural hubris wrecked many fine churches with utterly horrible extensions – sadly an abomination that went on for another century.
(I know the extension is 1903 – but it was planned in the late victorian period).
There, I said it. What was the architect thinking here?
October 24th – Passed through Aldridge as night fell. i’d been running an errand, and had to get shopping in. The sky was clear, and if I’d been in a place with a decent view, I think the sunset was pretty good.
It felt cold, though, that onset of winter kind of cold. I could see my breath form clouds of missed, and the air felt hard, brittle and clear.
Appropriate, really, that British Summer Time ends tonight, and the darkness that haunts me returns.
Ah well, bring it on…
October 9th – While in Birmingham, I passed under what used to be Fletchers Walk, unaware that it had changed so dramatically since my last visit. It’s still recognisably the place I lamented in the spring, with that geometric floor, odd mosaics and very red, red brick exteriors; but the shop units have all been ripped out, and the whole painted white and opened into an underpass.
It’s perhaps more haunting and chilling now than it was before. It feels like some architectural crime scene, washed clear of the horror but the bad atmosphere remains.
Curious.
October 2nd – As well as Leicester, there will always be a place in my heart for Derby, which similarly, is often dismissed as grimy, post industrial and dull – but such dismissals are wrong. Very wrong. Derby is full of lovely wide streets like Friarsgate, and around every corner there’s another interesting piece of architecture. And of course, the majesty of the River Gardens and Cathedral.
One of the best things is you can come all the way from Osgathorpe, near Melbourne, right to the River Gardens, on totally traffic free trails and only have to cross a handful of roads.
September 26th – Interested and fascinated to note that the restored windmill at Longdon that I photographed a week ago actually has a sailed that rotates with the wind as required – note the sails are on a different side of the building this week.
That mill has to be a tour de force of mechanical geekery… I love it.
September 19th – Wow. The windmill at Upper Longdon – converted into a family home – now has sails.
Is this the only windmill in Staffordshire to be in such a condition?
A wonderful thing. My respect to the owners.
September 8th – I’ve been a bit disappointed with the new housing development on the site of former tower block Bayley House in Brownhills, between Lindon Drive and Catshill Junction.
Unlike much of local housing development by Walsall Housing Group, it’s very boxy, plain and red brick, and aesthetically mediocre, at best. Secondly, the overgrown canal bank, trees and hidden, overgrown sculpture – which could have been made a feature – have been ignored. Lower floor dwellings in that building must be horridly dark.
I’ve heard it said a local canal group are planning to tend the sculpture, but that isn’t the point: if you pump a few million into developments, a few finishing touches and nods to decent aesthetics cost next to nothing.
Unusually for WHG, this is very poor.
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