Architecture
Why visit the Strand (according to reviews)
With lockdown easing, many Londoners and tourists are beginning to explore the city or return to their places of work. Of course, for some essential workers, the Strand has continued to be a part of daily life. As for me, I’m lucky that my job can be done from home, and I am nervous about…
Read MoreThe Strand as photographed by Anthony Frank Kersting
Anthony Frank Kersting was a prolific (and under-celebrated!) photographer of the 20th century. His collection of thousands of photographic prints and negatives, including glass plates, have been held at the Conway Library at the Courtauld Institute of Art since his death in 2008. The collection is being digitised as part of a huge project that…
Read MoreArundel Great Court: between redevelopment and conservation
180 Strand, the remaining part of the former Arundel Great Court, is located between Somerset House and the Inner Temple. Constructed between 1971 and 1976 the building stands as a brutalist landmark in the heart of the Strand. Once a multi-use office space, now an art and fashion hub, the site will soon be redeveloped…
Read MoreAldwych: a not so abandoned station just below us
The Aldwych underground station on the junction between the Strand and Surrey Street has been closed for nearly thirty years. This lonely station, that stands at the place of the former Royal Strand Theatre, was part of a one-station branch of the Piccadilly line that connected to Holborn station. This short back-and-forth shuttle service to…
Read MoreEssex street’s Watergate: a threshold to the bourgeois Strand
“He crossed the road and went into the darkness towards the little steps under the archway leading into Essex Street, and I let him go. And that was the last I ever saw of him.” – The Diamond Maker by HG Wells (1894). An “in-between” space, the Essex street’s Watergate closes the street on its…
Read MoreRepost from Courtauld Digital Media: Epstein’s Strand Statues
Editors’ note: The Strandlines editors are always scouring for news and research about the Strand area. Below we’re delighted to be sharing an extract from ‘The Strand Statues’, a piece by Leonora Monson, a Courtauld Connects Digitisation Placement student. Thank you to the Courtauld Digitisation team for allowing us to share. The Courtauld Connects Digitisation…
Read MoreRepost from Courtauld Digital Media: Visions of London
Editors’ note: The Strandlines editors are always scouring for news and research about the Strand area. Below we’re delighted to be sharing an extract of ‘Visions of London’, a piece by Hannah Wilson, a Courtauld Connects Digitisation placement student. Thank you to the Courtauld Digitisation team for allowing us to share a snippet of Hannah’s…
Read MoreThe Eleanor (Charing) Cross
The story of the Eleanor Cross begins with the death of Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I, on 28th of November 1290. A series of twelve crosses marked the resting places of the funerary cortège which began in Nottingham, where Eleanor died, and made stops at towns between Lincoln and Westminster Abbey. Charing Cross…
Read MoreThe York Watergate
When the Duke of Buckingham ordered his York House (approximately located at present day 38 Strand) to be modernised in 1623, “it was customary for nobility to be conveyed by water” [1] while the less convenient carriages were preferred for state purposes. This made the building of private watergates by the river very common in…
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