Aye Eye

I thought I would rest the London Eye on the Shell Building for this photograph and handily for an ABC Wednesday letter E its branding at the moment is the EDF Energy London Eye.  135 metres high its 30 minute whirl  is a popular destination.  The Shell Building is clad in Portland Stone which has meant that it has weathered better than other high rises built in 1961. London's new year countdown is projected onto the tower.   While taking this photograph I was stood on the Victoria Embankment

where an eagle flies.  Perhaps it may soar away north to York where

 the Euston railway station gates have made the journey.  Here at the National Railway Museum it is a popular resting area, maybe the essence of railway entrances lingers as a meeting place.  I wondered where they were on the original station and found this photograph from the 1950s

and they can be glimpsed by the columns. Euston was the world's first capital terminal and to mark the opening in 1837 this 70 feet high entrance was constructed of Portland Stone as a scaled up replica of a Doric Portico such as might have been seen in ancient Greece, but on a colossal scale.  Demolished in the 1960s when a lot of Victorian London was lost it was replaced by what has been described as "mundane modernism" and the dark uninviting station it is today. The Victorians also built outside the station four small lodges in matching Portland Stone for parcel collection and two of them survive but cast adrift with no purpose

I had no idea of their original use and took this photo only because of the interesting list of northern towns, one of which I sometimes change at to take the train down to London. Now knowing the original purpose I realise these are the names of the towns served by the railway.  The only other reminder of the old stations is

the reimagining of the Doric Arch on Euston's pub sign.  

An entry to ABC Wednesday - a journey through the alphabet

ABC Wednesday - Fire Station

I was passing this building on the way to somewhere else in London but managed a snap, while thinking wow an 'Arts and Crafts' Fire Station, who would have thought it.  No need to guess when it was built there it is in bold lettering '1902', not only a fire station but also with flats.  At first I thought this building was no longer used as a fire station because the large doors are blocked by cars but I was wrong for behind them are not the fire engines but a reception area.  A historical listed building described as "red brick laid in English bond with Portland stone dressing in the Arts and Crafts domestic style", the architect was Percy Erskine Nobbs (1874-1964) who went on to design many building in Montreal, Canada in the same style.

The Fire Brigade in London was at one time funded by city businesses but following an Act of Parliament in 1866 the local authority was charged with saving lives and protecting buildings resulting in the first publicly funded Brigade for the city. The building boom of the 1890s to the 1900s resulted in giving the Brigade "bespoke designs and characterful buildings". Well this one certainly fits that description.

Here is an old photo of the full building I found on the London Fire Journal blog (written in the USA).  Are you wondering where the fire engines are kept?  I missed them off my photo and this old one does not show them either.  Here comes the Turnout...

An entry to ABC Wednesday Round 10, a journey from A to Z