"Okay, so I got up here; now how the hell do I get back down again?"
This wasn't always Tony the hairdresser and a Thai restaurant; it used to be a gun shop. Hence Bambi on the roof.
And there it is … On Old Broad Street, close by Liverpool Street Station.
Look up as you approach the market and you will see probably the silliest room in London.
There it is; way up on the roof. I cannot even figure out how you would get into it, unless by ladder from the room below.
This is the poetically monickered "CIGS and PAPERS" on the corner of Norwich mrketplace.
What we have here is an attempt to make some kind of Greek temple out of some reclaimed Georgian windows and pediments and what can only be described as a bunch of old bits of corrugated iron.
This is the front of the ladies' shoes section of Jarrold's department store in Norwich. I like the over-the-top faience work.
I have no idea what all of the figures represent or what they are supposed to be doing.
On this one, a man appears to be showing a giant hat to a couple with a dog.
The tragedy is that in the ten minutes I watched them, not one passer-by looked up to see the splendour just above their heads.
That's Saint Stephens' church down there on the right; my office is behind me. I love plane trees. London is full of them because they are incredibly pollution tolerant; they shed their bark when it gets too full of cack, which gives them their attractive patchy appearance.
The next one's for Lynn, to make up for all the monstrous carbuncles in yesterday's post.
This is Leadenhall Market this morning. Regretfully, this lovely Victorian cast iron fancy is now filled with tourist tat emporia but is still a nice place to walk before the crowds build up.
I rather like the sunlight reflecting on it from the glass office block across the road.
We Architects get around the "You can't build that there, you twats!" argument by telling the planners that the new building "carries on an interesting conversation" with the old …
Here's the last Victorian building in Gracechurch Street; the Swan Tavern. Notice how the buildings either side are designed in complete harmony and sympathy.
And here's the poor old Albert pub on Victoria Street … with a subtle little extension out the back.
Hoorah for the Gherkin! I love that building, but it does kind of "carry on an interesting conversation" with Saint Helen's Church in the foreground.
Witness this strange little round room on the roof of the Bank of England. It's right round the back, where you would not normally look for strange little round rooms on the roof; especially not a strange little round room with an extravgantly tacky gold crown and corinthian capital stuck on top of it. Why is it there? What is it for? Is it where the Queen goes to sit and count her money? Buggered if I know …
Down at the other end of Threadneedle Street (originally named "Gropecunte Lane" - true) sits the Gibson Hall, festooned with a cornucopia of odd statuary; including these two gentlemen, sitting on either side of an unfeasibly large egg and apparently symbolically masturbating onto the crowds below.
The right hand gentleman seems inordinately pleased with himself. That has to be one of the silliest grins I have seen on a statue.
And speaking of silly; just across the road from our onanistic duo, you can look up and see Richard Rogers' splendidly silly Lloyds' Insurance Building, paid for by the small print on your insurance form.
Nestled somewhat inconguously in the back of the churchyard of what surely must be London's best-named church:
Look up. There they are, glaring down at you.
I particularly like this one. This is how I feel when the alarm goes off at 4:40 in the morning.
What's the story with these, I wonder? They seem based on real faces. Perhaps the Architect's enemies or the board of directors of the office building itself … Any ideas?
They certainly spooked me when I caught sight of them.
So anyhoo …
Consequently, this will be the first in an occasional series of photographs of some of the odder things stuck high up on London's buildings.