Architecture
The man who built Britain’s first skyscraper
In 2011 Britain’s first skyscraper was finally given Grade I listing. The citation for 55 Broadway — the Gotham City-ish…
Notre Dame is an architectural nullity
Notre Dame is only important from a Shakespeare’s-birthplace point of view. Architecturally it is a nullity beside the cathedrals of…
Modernist architecture only worked for the wealthy
It was Le Corbusier who famously wrote that ‘A house is a machine for living in’ (‘Une maison est une…
The old ways
I’m sitting across a café table from a young man with a sheaf of drawings that have an archive look…
Building block
What a strange affair it now seems, the Mansion House Square brouhaha. How very revealing of the battle for the…
Building block
What a strange affair it now seems, the Mansion House Square brouhaha. How very revealing of the battle for the…
Wall eyed
Any impressively long wall is bound to cause us to recall the midfield dynamo and philosopher John Trewick. In 1978…
Wall eyed
Any impressively long wall is bound to cause us to recall the midfield dynamo and philosopher John Trewick. In 1978…
Stuck on stucco
Whenever the words ‘stucco house’ appear in the newspapers, you can be certain the occupiers have been up to no…
Stuck on stucco
Whenever the words ‘stucco house’ appear in the newspapers, you can be certain the occupiers have been up to no…
Belly of an architect
Depending on your point de vue, Haussmann’s imperial scheme for Paris created townscape of thrilling regularity or boring uniformity. Whatever;…
Belly of an architect
Depending on your point de vue, Haussmann’s imperial scheme for Paris created townscape of thrilling regularity or boring uniformity. Whatever;…
Split decision
In 1992 I wrote a column that was published under the headline ‘It’s Time to Split the Tate’. To my…
The lifts are lovely: Tate Modern’s extension reviewed
Tate Modern, badly overcrowded, has built itself a £260 million extension to spread everyone about the place more. This means…
Giving Tate Modern a lift
Tate Modern, badly overcrowded, has built itself a £260 million extension to spread everyone about the place more. This means…
The embarrassing story of Scotland’s most important 20th century structure
Finding St Peter’s is not straightforward. I approach the wrong way, driving up a pot-holed farm track between a golf…
Dying of the light
Finding St Peter’s is not straightforward. I approach the wrong way, driving up a pot-holed farm track between a golf…
How dedicated a fascist was Le Corbusier?
The ‘revelations’, 50 years after he drowned, that Le Corbusier was a ‘fascist’ and an anti-Semite are neither fresh nor…
Dedicated follower of fascism?
The ‘revelations’, 50 years after he drowned, that Le Corbusier was a ‘fascist’ and an anti-Semite are neither fresh nor…
The only way is Essex University
Stephen Bayley revisits the ambitious, and for its day visionary, campus that is Essex University for its 50th birthday celebrations
The only way is Essex
We are told this is now a ‘knowledge economy’. Strange, then, that there are so few recent educational buildings of…
You want a glitzy new cultural centre in Backofbeyondistan? Don’t call Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban is the celebrated architect who refuses to become a celebrity. Thus, at 57, his career has run opposite…
The quiet man
Shigeru Ban is the celebrated architect who refuses to become a celebrity. Thus, at 57, his career has run opposite…
Bare and authentic or full and fake? The dilemma of preserving writers' houses
Every year, tens of thousands of visitors flock to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, in order to see…
House rules
Every year, tens of thousands of visitors flock to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, in order to see…
