Posts Tagged With: architecture

Penrhyn Castle

I can’t quite remember how Penrhyn Castle came up in my research as things to do in North Wales but it ended up being my favourite destination. It’s one of those rare National Trust properties that’s easy to get to by public transport. Closer to Bangor than Conwy it’s a pleasant 40 minutes by bus from Conwy town centre (Arriva buses have a very handy app that worked well and an all day ticket covering North Wales cost me £6.50). The bus stop is right outside the entrance to the castle although there is then a gentle mile walk down the driveway to the ticket office and round to the castle itself.

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Categories: Wales | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Plas Mawr, Conwy

Plas Mawr is an Elizabethan town house in the centre of Conwy. Welsh for “Great Hall” it was built around 1576. Maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government, it is free for Cadw members and due to reciprocal arrangements members of English Heritage (like myself), otherwise it is £8.50 for an adult ticket.

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Categories: Conwy, Wales | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

Throwback Thursday: Liverpool Town Hall

Liverpool Town Hall, base for the Lord Mayor, was built in 1749 and designed by John Wood.

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Categories: England, Liverpool, Merseyside | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Conwy, Wales

Conwy is a lovely small town on the North Wales coast with a skyline dominated by Conwy Castle and the town walls which date from the 13th century and both of which will feature in a future post. On the banks of the Conwy estuary the town (and castle) had a good defensive position on rocky elevated ground and also where a narrowing of the river allowed for crossings at slack tide.

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Categories: Conwy, Wales | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Cosy Club, Nottingham

On Monday I had a lovely lunch with a friend at The Cosy Club, Nottingham. She’d asked me to pick the venue and I chose here because I’ve always been fascinated by this building which is just around the corner from the Market Square in the centre of Nottingham. The Cosy Club, a chain of restaurants, moved in at the beginning of 2020, and then promptly had to close because of COVID. However they’ve now reopened and seem to be doing very well judging by how busy it was (we managed to get a table in the bar area without booking, but absolutely book in advance if there’s a larger group and at dinner time). Prior to this the building had been vacant for nearly 20 years and as you’ll see they’ve done a great job of restoring it to its former glory.

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Abbey House, Baker Street, London

Abbey House, located at 219-229 Baker Street, London contains part of the central tower and a section of the façade of what was the headquarters for the Abbey Road Building Society (now Abbey National) from 1932 until 2002. The Art Deco styling of the building was designed by J. J. Joass and is original, the rest of the building was rebuilt as residential and commercial units as well as underground parking.

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Categories: England, London | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

Daunt Books, Marylebone, London

Daunt Books is a chain of independent bookshops founded by James Daunt with the Marylebone branch being the first acquisition. It was bought by Daunt in 1990 – before that it was an Edwardian bookshop built in 1910 which claims to be the world’s first custom-built bookshop. It’s one of those places that turns up all the time on best bookshops in London lists and as I happened to be walking past it on my most recent trip to London I decided to pop in and have a look for myself.

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Categories: England, London | Tags: , , , , | 6 Comments

Backstage at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

On 27 November 1982 Elton John performed the inaugural concert at the Royal Concert Hall and to celebrate its 40th anniversary they opened up their doors today (12 November 2022) for a free open day which included backstage tours, music performances and an exhibition on the construction of the building and past performers. It proved very popular, more so than I think the venue was expecting. I got there at just after 10am and joined an already long queue and it took about 40 minutes or so to snake through the building to the start of the tour but it was very good natured, I got chatting to strangers as we waited and the staff were lovely and very organised.

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Categories: England, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Throwback Thursday: Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas, Liverpool

This church is the parish church of Liverpool and is also referred to as the Sailor’s Church, for its relationship to the Mersey and its shipping. There’s been a place of worship on the site for more than 750 years.

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Throwback Thursday: 1-11 Regent Street, Nottingham

Six terraced houses, now offices, these were largely designed by Nottingham architect Thomas Chambers Hine in the Flemish Renaissance style. Built around 1848-1851 they are a striking set of buildings and are Grade II listed. Hines himself died at 25 Regent Street in 1899.

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