From River Clubs to Road Houses: An Interwar Leisure Phenomenon
by Lucinda Gosling Time to fire up the boat-backed Bentley and scorch out to the nearest roadhouse with the GF/BF for cocktails, sun bathing, dancing and a canoodle. Lucinda Gosling has the story, from its beginnings in 20s party time through to ‘Lights out’ in 1939. In January 2019, when the Maidenhead Advertiser reported on […]
Battersea Power Station – Conclusion
By Helen Bowman In Curated Decay (2017), Caitlin DeSilvey explores the decommissioned Thyssen ironworks at Duisburg-Meiderich in Germany’s Ruhr region. Today it is known as the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord (LDN)[i]. The difficult, careful, and ultimately effective thinking that took place in relation to this site following the closure of the works in 1985 sits in distressing […]
Bracing Air, Abundant Amusements: The Travel Posters of Charles Pears
by Steph Webb (Curator), Wakefield Museums & Castles Here at Pontefract Museum, we have recently opened our latest special exhibition, a celebration of the Pontefract-born artist, Charles Pears (1873-1958). The first retrospective of Pears’ work in his hometown, the exhibition focuses particularly on his prolific career as a travel poster artist in the interwar period. […]
Battersea Power Station Part 5 – Afterlife
by Helen Bowman ‘It is what it is’ – Donald Trump, 2020 ‘It’s just a big box – this should be easy’ – former colleague, English Heritage Solving the Battersea ‘problem’ has exercised many creative minds over the decades. Cedric Price’s ‘Bat Hat’ (1983) is a lot of fun, embodying a raised eyebrow at the […]
Battersea Power Station Part Four – Purgatory
by Helen Bowman They’ve only gone and bloody listed it…. Sweeping in and listing Battersea power station at Grade ll in October 1980 was nothing if not characteristically Heseltinian (‘Heseltinian’ – to act with swagger, resolution, and significant hair volume). Michael Heseltine’s action annoyed and perplexed some but delighted others and was executed with rapidity […]
Battersea Power Station Part Three – Life and Death
by Helen Bowman “There’s a message floatin’ in the air, Crazy horses ridin’ everywhere, It’s a warning, it’s in every tongue, Gotta stop them crazy horses on the run.”The Osmonds, Crazy Horses, 1972 By 1955, the unapologetically ‘designed’ electricity power station at Battersea, its four-chimney profile in place, was complete. Despite the achievement, the building’s […]
Battersea Power Station Part Two – Birth of an Icon
by Helen Bowman ‘There is nothing in the world so beautiful as a great generating station.’Filippo Marinetti (1876-1944), Futurism co-founder and poet That Battersea Power Station exists at all is of course a reflection of a period of immense and intense technological advance during the late 19th and early 20th century. The development and increasing […]
Battersea Power Station – A Life in Five Acts
In a new departure for the Society, Helen Bowman offers members a five-part trek through the life and times of Battersea Power Station, starting with the development of coal-generated electricity for the masses, a sometimes fraught operational life, a notoriously messy retirement, transition to Art Deco pin-up, and now, as a bit-part player in a […]
Twentieth Century (1937)
How about a genuine Art Deco cocktail recipe to cheer up a very unusual New Years eve?! Lucy Jane Santos has very kindly provided details on how to mix a classic and explains the back story behind its creation. Ingredients 40 ml dry gin 20 ml Lillet Blanc 20 ml crème de cacao 20 ml fresh […]
Portobello Bathing Pool and Scottish Lidos, past and present.
by Lorna McCulloch I’ve had a framed copy of this wonderful poster of Portobello Lido on my wall for years, and have occasionally mused about what it would have been like. After the fascinating lecture on Seaside Architecture by Dr Kathryn Ferry, I was inspired to do a bit more research on Portobello Bathing Pool […]