Friday, October 19, 2012

Daily Express Building


This is one of my favorite London buildings -- the Daily Express Building on Fleet Street, which dates back to 1932. It looks so sleek and modern, it's hard to believe it's that old! It's a classic example of Art Deco at its finest.


I first saw it when I took that interminable open-top bus tour with Jennifer and Jesse during their visit in June. I went downtown to take a closer look at it yesterday. I much preferred seeing it from the sidewalk rather than the frigid, windy roof of a bus!

I found it incredibly hard to photograph, though. Fleet Street is very crowded with both cars and people, so waiting for a break in both foot and auto traffic was difficult. And the building's highly reflective sheen made photography doubly challenging.


And then there was that stupid "keep left" sign. Sigh.

Apparently the lobby is also spectacular, but the building isn't routinely open to the public, so I didn't try to go in.

My original intention was to go on to the Tate Modern, but I was having so much fun walking around that I abandoned that plan. I bought a sandwich and sat out by the Thames Path, eating lunch as all the joggers laboriously huffed and puffed past. (Not that I'm making fun of them, being a huffer and puffer myself.) I had a good photography day and came home tired.

Dave and I originally planned to attend a media panel discussion about the presidential election at school last night, but we were both worn out so we stayed home instead. Like everyone else, I'm sick of hearing about the election anyway!

5 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

I love that building! That whole art deco thing just charms my heart!

ellen abbott said...

I love that other places love their old buildings. Here in Houston, there is no love of old buildings no matter how fine or special they are or how much history they represent. To the wrecking ball!

ellen abbott said...

btw, I did answer your question about the peach pits on my blog, but just in case you don't check back, since I rarely respond in comments preferring email which you don't provide, yes, I plan on sealing them and filling the peach box with them. I love all the colors that came out. they were mostly just dirt colored when I fetched them out of the compost pile.

The Bug said...

I like that last photo the best - it looks like the other buildings are INSIDE that building. Cool!

Three weeks until this election is over. I'll be REALLY sad if my side doesn't win, but in any case it will be good for the whole thing to be OVER for another 4 years!

Sharon said...

I think you did a great job of capturing this gorgeous building. I'll have to make a point of finding this one the next time I'm visiting London.