Coffee in the Square

The First Underground Railway in the World

10th January was the 149th anniversary of London's first underground line, and the first time in the world that trains had gone underground in a city.  I rode the route yesterday, with commuters and tourists who, of course, had no idea that they were riding into history. 

The route went from Paddington Station to Farringdon, and was intended to be an extension of the Metropolitan Railway right into the city.  Even today the route has three rails in some cases so that tube trains and commuter trains can arrive at the same platforms.  (Tube trains are wider.)

In the week that government announces the HS2 high speed line to Birmingham, I wanted to remind myself of how 19th Century travellers might have felt with their new high speed line.   Of course the old trains were steam trains and it seems that passengers did complain about the steamyness of the underground platforms.  The engineers went to great efforts to design a series of ducts that would dispel the steam.  They designed beautiful brick chutes at Baker Street (as well as Great Portland St and Euston Square) which let steam out and let sunlight in.  These have been blocked up now, but the refurb at Baker Street did put lights into the chutes, which gives something of the impression of the original platforms.

Baker Street 2012

Baker Street 1863

However many passengers were content to travel on the new steamy route.  In the first few months 26,000 people used the line and in an attempt to relieve overcrowding extra rolling stock had to be brought in from the Great Western Railway. 

Tunelling skills were not so advanced in those days.  The line was built with cut and cover.   The old drawings showing clearly how a trench was constructed and then temporary timber supports would be placed until the brick arches could be built. 

The problem with this method of construction was that it was very dissruptive to those on the surface.  People compained that the New Road, now Euston/Marylebone Road, was out of use for months.  But it was only the fact that this road existed which allowed the route to be built.  It would have been far too expensive to pull down great swathes of London houses to bring the line into Farringdon. 

As it was the engineers went to great efforts to disguise the ventilation shafts.  Supposedly, a five foot thick facade was constructed in Leinster Gradens to simulate a house, but which in fact masked a ventialtion duct.

Baker Street Station still has many of the original features.  It was sensitively refurbished in 1982 and a set of interesting panels were erected in the advertising spaces which illustrate the construction. 

So we haven't changed very much in 150 years.  Opponents to HS2 want fast and efficient transport systems - as long as we can't see or hear them!  And they certainly don't want the construction work to disturb them in any way.  The headline on the Ham and High, Camden's local newspaper this week said, "HS2 will cause ten years of chaos to Camden."   I expect that they said the same thing about that pesky new underground railway in 1863!

Southsea Afternoon

The English South coast is slowly starting to wake up from about 50 years snooze in a deckchair.

Mike and I went to Southsea yesterday and strolled in the un-seasonal August Bank Holiday sun.  Its about ten minutes walk from Portsmouth

and Southsea rail station.

The highlight is the East Beach which local people seem to decry as decrepit, but  we found it delightful.. They have left the beach un-weeded, so plants like sea cabbage and thrift are flourishing.  Half way along – just opposite the military museum there is a lovely take away café – they have a real coffee machine in the back of a trailer and do home made bread and butter pudding as well as delicious looking filled rolls.  To complete your seaside meal a local ice cream company park nearby.

The really cool thing is the beach deckchairs that you can sit on to drink your coffee.  Each one has a container in the arm to support the coffee cup!  Those fold out chairs are really comfortable – the high back can also be used as a wind break if it gets a bit nippy.

If you pop into the tourist office you can pick up a map which shows the whole seaside from Portsmouth Harbour right to the ferry to Hayling Island (which runs from the very far end of Southsea front.)  (It’s a cycle route – but in fact its quite difficult to hire a bike around here!)

There is a very good leaflet to be had on the works of Thomas Ellis Owen, 1805-1862 who did a series of Nash type terraces and cottages just near to the Southsea town centre.  It’s a short walk – all concentrated into a few streets and obviously the posh part of town to live.  Kent Road used to overlook the common and the sea – but sadly its all been built-up now.  Before you get to the bombed out part of Portsmouth – which have now been built up with tower blocks and council flats – you walk through a delightful cottagey Victorian area.  The pubs all look amazing – festooned with tiles and decoration and all amazingly still open and active.  Some have turned themselves into brassieres and look quite smart.

 

But don’t get too excited – Southsea is an expensive place to live – we saw no bargains in the estate agents’ windows!  And these agents are obviously good at marketing.  The architectural leaflet is sponsored by estate agents DM Nesbit and Co!

 

www.portsmouth.gov.uk/living/714.html

Milton Keynes Digital City

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Take a look at the two images above.  They struck me as remarkably similar.  The one on the left was drawn by a dissident Argentinian scientist who became an artist, the one on the right was drawn by an eastern European immigrant. They both date from the '60s.  The one on the left is "art" the one on the right is "town planning".
I came across the painting by Victor Grippo in an exhibition which is on (until 4th February) at the Camden Arts Centre London.  The image reminded me so much of a file image I had copied some time ago from the original designs for Milton Keynes. 
Why are they both so similar?  I think its the influence of the printed circuit which was a popular image at the time and anticipated the rise and rise of computers.
What I think those town planners failed to realise is that the city is not logical - people and traffic do not move round it as electricity moves around a circuit board.  Traffic is much more haphazard.  Given no other motive people will walk in straight lines, but they will deviate to see a view, to follow a crowd of to get to a destination.  The circulation system is much more like that of the human body.  There are routes but there is ebb and flow.  If one route is cut off or damaged another route may form.  But if the beast is fundamentally wounded it may expire.  The loss of importance of a river crossing - or the like often signals the death of a city, just as the bringing of a canal, a motorway or railway can breath new life into the animal that is the city.
However the city analogy with a body breaks down in one key respect, which these town planners also failed to realise.  The plan for Milton Keynes religiously separates cars, pedestrians and public transport.  In reality many modes can and in my view should take the same route!

London, Hampstead Garden Suburb

 

This is the Institute at Hampstead Garden Suburb.  I decided to revisit the suburb in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the development of Milton Keynes this week. Hampstead is to me the archetypal English Garden Suburb of which Milton Keynes is a sort of americanised bastard. Of course the styling is the first difference.   But as I walked around, on what turned out to be a sunny but bitingly cold day, I realised that the central square of Hampstead Garden suburb has no commercial activities.  Instead it has three churches and three schools - if you include the Institute which was once the focus of adult education.
Even though this model of large houses and long tree lined avenues is difficult to reconcile with public transport provision and we would expect everyone to go by car, there were in fact quite a lot of people just walking around.  In fact the institute now runs a series of walk and talk days, which sound very good.  I had stumbled upon one of them.  The course leader is a trained councillor and I could see that everyone was walking and talking and I'm sure the effects on the psyche and the health were great.  They pointed me in the right direction of a cafe, which of course is at the edge of the scheme on a main road - just where shops ought to be.  Its interesting how often we are encouraged to keep neighbourhood centres in the centre of things, but of course in small scale places they can not survive.  In Hampstead the focus is spiritual and educational and I'm pleased to see that the walking tours are continuing the tradition.  This is a much better focus that retail!
Obviously others agree with me. The going rates for purchase of a house start at £1million and goes up to £4Million!  I've included a series of images which you can download.  Though I'm not  a fan of retro the detailing is very fine and all the houses seem to be in very good condition.  My only regret is that there are very few smaller scale units, or flats.