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
We will be in busy London streets, with not all surfaces being even, and stairs at one location.
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 participant of Open City’s Golden Key Academy – a course training up insightful and engaging guides dedicated to explaining London and bringing its many stories to life. It is part of a wider collection of tours created by Golden Key Academy guides for the Open House Festival celebrating their conclusion of the eight month course.
Further information on the Golden Key Academy can be found here https://open-city.org.uk/golden-key-academy
Drop in / Guided tour
institution/profession, scientific
Experience the history, architecture and science of the East Wing of Burlington House, home to the Royal Society of Chemistry. Part of the quadrangle extension to Burlington House, it was purpose built for the learned society.
Robert Richardson Banks and Charles Barry, 1873
Drop in / Guided tour
institution/profession, library, museum
The Society of Antiquaries of London has been exploring the material past since the early eighteenth century. This year we celebrate 150 years of residence in the purpose-built grade II* listed apartments in Burlington House, with its grand galleried library and varied collections. Today's membership of 3000 Fellows are leading experts in archaeology, history, art, architecture, and heritage.
Robert Richardson Banks and Charles Barry, 1875
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
