walk/tour
Alfred Gilbert, 1892
Meet: Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, Piccadilly Circus, W1J 9HS
On this journey into Soho and St Giles, I want to show the different ways London’s streets are alive with love in all its varied forms. Buildings are often said to be sympathetic or out of place, in keeping or a departure from their surroundings. This tour will explore how the built environment reflects the relationships we conduct with each other.
Piccadilly Circus
19, 38
End point: Maison Bertaux in Greek Street, Soho
Not all this tour has good level access, there are some stairs at the beginning of the tour.
We will be in busy London streets, with not all surfaces being even, and stairs at one location.
Walking tour
14:00–15:30
How to book
Please create a free visitor account to book your festival tickets.
Walking tour
14:00–15:30
How to book
Please create a free visitor account to book your festival tickets.
Join me at a Victorian love god statue in Piccadilly as we explore how the built environment speaks of love: from erotic to sentimental, and from the familial to the societal and political.
The city can’t love us back, but, like it or not, we are in a relationship. Buildings are said to be sympathetic or out of place, in keeping or a departure. Does the language of attachment we use for buildings tell us about how we construct urban memories, especially the memories of the relationships we conduct with each other, beneath, around and inside them?
Time and familiarity can change a previously negative relationship with a previously resented or underappreciated building.
We’ll walk through leisure and commercial developments which currently get a cold reception. Perhaps with growing love and attachment they can provoke the same kind of reassessment we give to Brutalist and Post Modern buildings now.
This tour is led by a graduate of Open City’s Golden Key Academy - an eight-month course designed to train insightful and engaging guides who bring London’s rich stories to life.
Learn more about the Golden Key Academy here: open-city.org.uk/golden-key-academy
Drop in / Family activity
institution/profession, scientific
Home to the oldest geological society in the world, founded in 1807. The Society has been based at Burlington House since 1874, and now has over 12,000 members worldwide.
Robert Richardson Banks and Charles Barry, 1873
Drop in
institution/profession, library, education, scientific
The world's oldest active biological society. Founded in 1788, the Society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus whose botanical, zoological and library collections have been in its keeping since 1829.
Robert Richardson Banks and Charles Barry, 1873
Drop in / Family activity
institution/profession, scientific, library
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) moved into Burlington House in 1874. Part of the extension to Burlington House to provide accommodation for learned societies, the building was refurbished in 2007. The RAS is the oldest astronomical society in the world and has been encouraging and promoting the study of astronomy and geophysics since 1820.
Robert Richardson Banks and Charles Barry, 1874
