Last week we visited the village of Kelmscott and found the wall paintings in St George’s Chapel. The church, a modest limestone building from the fourteenth century, standing quietly beside the Thames meadows is one of the most atmospheric small churches in the county. Its simplicity is part of its charm: a building that has…
Category: Architecture
Kew Gardens, The Palm House and Art Galleries
Last week we visited Kew Gardens. This was not our first visit but we concentrated on the Palm House this time as it will soon close for a major refurbishment. Decimus Burton and Richard Turner unveiled this astonishing iron‑and‑glass cathedral of the tropics in London in the 1840s. Even now, the great curving ribs overhead…
The Istanbul Modern
Istanbul is a city we have been meaning to visit for years and we finally arrived a few days ago. But what to write about. The architecture of the old city is amazing from the Byzantine Hagia Sofia to the seventeenth century Blue Mosque. But I have chosen the Museum of Modern Art a few…
Frank Gehry (1929-2025)
Frank Gehry was one of the great pioneers of architecture in history and certainly of the twenty first century. With his passing this weekend we think of some of the most innovative buildings of the world. His postmodern designs were characterized by their sculptural, often undulating exteriors and innovative use of materials such as titanium…
Ironbridge in Shropshire – Bridges in Art
Bridges can be found in many works of art such as Canalletto’s wonderful study of Old Walton Bridge in the Dulwich Picture Gallery or Turner’s Maidenhead Bridge which I wrote about here in 2019. But they can also be works of art in their own right. Some of the most beautiful examples of architecture in…
White Box Art Channel 