Dating from 1853 this building used to house the Royal Midland Institute for the Blind. This charity was founded in 1843 by Mary Chambers, a visually impaired Quaker. When the charity moved to the Clarendon Chambers site 40 boarders were taught crafts like basket making to sell in the charity’s shops and later were taught braille.
A bronze sculpture by Rudy Weller it was installed in 1992 near Piccadilly Circus. The four horses are depicted leaping out of a fountain. They are the four horses of Helios, the Greek god of the sun.
The Royal Palace in Amsterdam is King Willem-Alexander’s official reception palace, used for important official events and is one of three palaces used by the Dutch Royal Family. It was originally Amsterdam’s town hall rather than a palace and was designed by Jan Van Campen in the 17th century.
Last week I went to visit Nottingham Castle for the first time not only since the pandemic began but also since they reopened after a £30 million refurbishment. Timed tickets are available online with an adult ticket priced at £13 though city residents like myself receive a 10% discount.
The Llandudno War Memorial commemorates those who died in both World Wars. It’s a large obelisk with a golden ball at the top that was first unveiled in 1922. It was designed by Sidney Colwyn Foulkes.
Built in 1877 by R C Sutton in red brick this was originally a chemist’s shop, then a restaurant and then a shop again. It is quite a striking building, designed to have a continuous shopfront with plate glass windows though right now the windows are boarded up and there doesn’t appear to be any business based there.
Now the Conservation Centre for National Museums Liverpool this was originally a warehouse built for storing rail freight for the Midland Railway in 1872. Designed by Henry Sumners it’s made of red brick with arched openings on each of the four walls large enough for freight to pass through. It was designated a Grade II listed building in 1975.
When I took photos of this building next to Russell Square it was the Hotel Russell but now it is the five star Kimpton Fitzroy London. Built in 1898 by the architect Charles Fitzroy Doll it was opened in 1900 and its terracotta decoration was apparently based on the Chateau de Madrid near Paris which was demolished in the 1790s.
Minerva House on North Crescent in Camden is a Grade II building that started out as a car showroom and offices for the Minerva Motor Company. They were a Belgian car company operating from 1902 until 1938. It was designed by George Vernon and the building itself dates from around 1912. The logo of the car company was the goddess Minerva – hence the statue of the goddess above the entrance.
Bodlondeb Castle in Llandudno was built as a house in the 1890s for Thomas P Davies. Davies, who was the manager of the local St George’s Hotel, had been commissioned by a rich guest staying at the hotel who wished to remain anonymous to build the castle. However, once he returned after the building had been completed and realised that it didn’t come with a big enough plot of land he declared he was no longer interested and left, leaving Davies with a huge building to try and get rid of. It was unsurprisingly known locally thereafter as Davies’ Folly.
