…place: London #2

A WANDER AROUND ST.PAUL’S, SOUTH ALONG THE RIVER & QUEENS PARK

The second installment of an epic meander through the capital in September…

Starting in Carter Lane, just south of St.Paul’s at what is now a rather down-at-heel YMCA in a spectacularly decorated and sadly dilapidated state. This building, once the choir boys school, is liberally covered in lettering and decoration in a technique called ‘sgrafitto’ where layers of coloured plaster are spread over each other, and the top layer is scraped away to reveal the colour beneath. Water damage has made some probably irreversible damage to this delicate plasterwork. Grrr.

The building is also adorned with other decorative features too like this corner plaque at the rear, where the building joins the old Deanery which needs to be tried for crimes against setting copperplate script in all caps!

On the way through Cheapside we found this marble slab with some pretty uninspiring typography:

Wordsworth would probably spin in his grave if he saw just how a poor choice of typeface could reduce a poem to just words in stone…

Across the river, on Shad Thames some pretty nasty kerning was found… 

But was all redeemed after a couple of pints in The Rake near Blows yard…

Followed by more pints in a variety of establishments along the river…

And some excellent noodles at Cha Cha Moon, with its elegant typography and nimble neon sign…

There were other places after that, but much of that is now strangely lost to me.

The following morning after a hearty fried breakfast we wandered the streets of NW6 and found some items of interest…

And at the point at which I could take no more Helvetica, I spotted this elegant handwritten note alongside some more. I sincerely hope that you are only getting your own mail now, Janette.

So what’s in your neighbourhood?

I am putting out a request for contributors for the “my type of… place” section of this blog and would like you to put together your own typographic tour. If you are interested, download the contributors information sheet for more details, ideas and specifications here.

…place: London #1

A WANDER AROUND FARRINGDON, CLERKENWELL & THE BARBICAN

Its great heading into London for mooch around with like-minded friends. This is part 1 of a long meander, but where better to start than this defunct art supplies shop, still displaying fading adverts for Letraset, Mecanorma and other relics of a bygone age… aah!

I love the juxtaposition of the designer Helvetica sign alongside the original ‘Girls & Infants’ stonework – I’m sure this has been positioned here deliberately!

Around the corner is the old Clerkenwell  Workshops building, now very much a mixed used space, but still proudly displaying its origins

And the subtly cropped Helvetica of one of the areas top design studios…

The best three kings… ever!

The elegance of this whitewashed arch, complete with decorative quoin and understated lettercarving is in stark contrast to the suggestion of the wittily altered street sign!

Above, a very large and bizarre looking number – reminds me of poor quality graffiti!

Whilst below is a more traditional sign with a curiously upside down final letter!

St. John Street has a number of fine architectural details, many of which all relate to the original of the St.John’s Ambulance organisation.

As you wander around, there are legacies of previous uses that have been retained more subtly, and others that are probably some of the deepest carvings around.

And so we get to the ‘love it or loath it’ monolith of the Barbican. I have always had a sneaky admiration for brutalist urban town planning – although much of them never lasted beyond 20 years before they were considered worse than the car parks of the same era!

Somehow, this place has worked. Yes, it’s not pretty, and yes, lots of Londoners and foreigners hate it too, but there’s no denying it works. These places are highly sought after, and for the typographer they retain much of their original Helvetica signage:

Although much of what has been retained has been abused – is that a Gill Sans ‘a’? Wall Side or Wallside? And is that ‘s’ upside down too?

At this point it was raining hard, and coffee had become a necessity, so I’ll leave you with a reflection as well made our way towards St.Pauls…