Regent's Park: Architectural Detail

It seems really strange that for a walk in the park, especially Regent's Park, I would choose architectural detail for a common theme but the buildings that were built around and through out the park have such beautiful detail and such a blending of styles. On the buildings outside the park the Baroque and Classical styles prevailed but within the Park most of the design was Victorian and English in structure. The design and structure of the buildings almost parallels the design of the park; the outside is anything but structured with different styles combined within the same building while within Queen Mary's Garden the buildings within it are all done in one style and are all very structured. Structured and yet free.

Almost a Greek Temple.

Looks like Wedgewood.

Corinthian columns.

Victorian Bandstand.

Lack of Decoration.

Baroque columns.

Painted Frieze.

Crescent Mooned Mosque.

Walk Through The City: Door Archivolt

The Walk Through The City brings one through the old city of Londinium and into the current financial district of London. The buildings were built in different time periods but surprisingly have similar door frames. Quite a few of the doors along the walk have a circular archivolt which is about all they have in common. They all have vastly different ornamentation due to the design and function of the buildings along with the time period in which they were built. The archivolts within this part of the city helps to bring it to life and adds interest to an otherwise dull area within the financial district.

Three makes symmetry.

Baroque doorway.

Circular door with no circular archivolt, sorry.

Gothic ornamentation.

Basic doorway.

Church with a hole in the doorway.

Metal ornamentation.

A station at the metro...

Oxford: City and University

Oxford was an amazing town full of wonderful universities and stunning architecture. The town itself was founded in the 9th century and began to host scholars and to build up the universities as early as the end of the 12th century. A few of the older buildings still survive along with the rituals and traditions that had been developed within them. These older buildings that are still used have been converted into churches, classrooms and flats but there has also been almost continual building since the universities foundation. The history and the age of the buildings add an air of beauty and romance during the day but at night the buildings, alleys and roads can turn eerie and frightening with its winding streets hiding objects from view. The city of Oxford and the universities have also produced cascades of successful and powerful people and with this power and success inevitably comes secrets and mystery. While there are many Prime Ministers and Noble Peace Prize winners that have graduated from the universities the figure that is significant to us is Dorothy Sayers. Dorothy was born in Oxford and also graduated from Somerville College, Oxford. These experiences added to her mystery novels, like Gaudy Night, in which she used her vast knowledge and understanding of academic life within Oxford to solve a mystery. Oxford being the setting gave the novel some gothic undertones that mysteries should have if at all possible. These gothic undertones were mostly from setting being a really old college.