tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287675141745937676.post2076250247439074120..comments2024-03-20T23:43:28.613+00:00Comments on Caroline's Miscellany: Barons CourtCarolineLDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00197813252586559665noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287675141745937676.post-43382023560243877242013-07-12T19:20:30.153+01:002013-07-12T19:20:30.153+01:00Thank you, Mandy. I managed to change trains there...Thank you, Mandy. I managed to change trains there regularly without realising how lovely it is. <br /><br />Ralph, that's really interesting. I wonder if it's almost a lack of confidence. Here, the elements are present but they are mixed with Art Nouveau flourishes, for example - nothing 'pedantically correct' about it. <br /><br />Hels, there certainly is a lot more Art Nouveau decoration on the Paris metro - especially the famous entrances by Hector Guimard. I'm sure there are all sorts of reasons - not only the style's greater popularity in France, but also the fact that so much of the Parisian system was built around this time (it opened in 1900) - and by only two companies so there's more uniformity. <br />CarolineLDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00197813252586559665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287675141745937676.post-91213979174232202712013-07-11T19:17:15.968+01:002013-07-11T19:17:15.968+01:00It really is beautiful. I wonder how many people p...It really is beautiful. I wonder how many people pass through every day and don't notice how ornate many parts of it are. I know I've never noticed it when passing through it, which I did today in fact. Mandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11931248631361366673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287675141745937676.post-41181255635131251402013-07-10T01:50:52.704+01:002013-07-10T01:50:52.704+01:00The Art Nouveau flowers and the curvy lettering ar...The Art Nouveau flowers and the curvy lettering are indeed a lovely part of the decoration. Am I right in guessing this was more popular in Paris' railway stations than in London's?<br />Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287675141745937676.post-6565025107395314572013-07-09T23:07:45.292+01:002013-07-09T23:07:45.292+01:00The pictures of this beautiful building make me th...The pictures of this beautiful building make me think.<br /><br />In 1905 the classical style was still alive but at its last gasp, and often going saggy and dreadful as you can see in many blocks of mansion flats in London. But here an architect deploys classical motifs effortlessly -- depressed arches, pilasters, cornices, broken pediments, balustrades, balls on plinths -- to create a pleasing composition. Every part of it is functionless, but it works visually.<br /><br />And now contrast the awful Bomber Command memorial at Hyde Park Corner, done in a pedantically correct classical style but with wretched proportions: heavy in the middle, frail at the sides. I can't even be bothered to look up the poor architect's name, but he was using a style that he didn't understand. The link to the past has been broken, and it can't be reforged.<br /><br />It's the same with the beautiful lettering. This was hand-drawn, not traced from a font: note the different Rs in BARONS COURT and DISTRICT RY. It's elegant but unselfconscious. People might try to emulate this now, but the result always has a poseur-ish quality and never looks natural.<br /><br />Something important died in the twentieth century.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.com