Articles
Rembrandt rediscovered
Years ago at Buckland Abbey, Devon, (the former home of Sir Francis Drake), I viewed a portrait of Rembrandt attributed to his Studio and one of his apprentices. The painting was gifted to the National Trust in 2010 and it was very difficult to see it properly through...
Nearly 100 Heads of State, including Queen Elizabeth II, visited the Yugoslavian dictator Tito at his Summer Residence on this private island.
Josip Broz Tito ruled Yugoslavia for nearly four decades from 1945 until his death in 1980. Tito's summer residence, the White Lodge, on the beautiful island of Veliki Brijun, 2 km from the Istrian mainland, was designed by the Slovenian architect Joze Plecnik in...
Flashback to the 1980s
Cosmic House, 19 Lansdowne Walk, Kensington, 1979-1985, (a remodelled terraced house dating from the 1840s), designed by its owner, Charles Jencks, the American architectural writer, critic, and lecturer, and mastermind of Post Modernism, together with the architect...
The Silver City by the Golden Sands
Aberdeen is also known as the granite city. It is where a new £400 million South Harbour extension is bringing cruise ships into the city centre, boosting the region’s heritage tourism potential and economic diversification. Aberdeen is a beautiful and ancient city,...
Frank Lloyd Wright and his Praire style
American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 – 1959), had a significant influence on the development of architectural design, which began in his home city of Chicago. He designed or remodelled 32 buildings in nearby Oak Park and the neighbouring garden suburb of...
Imagine a holiday home designed by Mies van der Rohe
Reimagining the ancient round house
Ford House, Aurora, Illinois, designed in 1949, possesses national significance for the USA as a primary example of the architect Bruce Goff's American organic design, which combines natural and industrial materials with a geometric aesthetic. It is totally unique and...
Solid connections to medieval England.
New Bridge, built 1520, stands over the River Tamar at Gunnislake, linking Devon and Cornwall. It’s ‘new’ in comparison to Horse Bridge, built 1437, about 4 miles up river, and Greystone Bridge, built 1439, about 10 miles up river, all of which still carry traffic....
Visit a Roman Emperor’s Palace
The vast complex of vaulted basements under Emperor Diocletian’s Palace, Split, Croatia, built 295-305 AD, were for centuries used as a medieval sewer and dumping ground, but now they are cleaned up and together with the surviving Roman buildings above ground, they...
Gladiator II – the return of a Prince of Rome and a Royal Cinema
What a treat to watch Gladiator II at the beautifully restored, grade II listed, Royal cinema, in the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield. This important Art Deco cinema opened as an Odeon cinema in 1936. It was designed by the architect Cecil Clavering for Oscar Deutsch...