Chicago, archive of 20th Century excellence

Chuffed to have a long article in the FT magazine’s design special today: How To Make A New Town

The cover is a watercolour painting of Croydon Town Centre looking across from Duppas Hill with the flyover in the foreground. The title says “Croydon Guide” in the futuristic Countdown typeface.

Municipal guide cover of the day (possibly an all time great!): Croydon, 1971. Countdown typeface klaxon!

FAIRLY IMPRESSED BY THE PAVEMENT ARCHES TO THESE ART DECO FLATS THOUGH.

Coventry, 1957. I post photographs taken by me since 1954. 180 unique historic street scenes of the UK and Ireland are included in my book "Forgotten Times" to be published in September. A limited number available to pre-order from Amberley Publishing. #Coventry

Newlymost arrivit! Deep joy.

Early black and white photo of Balfron Tower

Erno Goldfinger standing in front of Balfron Tower

🚨 New on Substack: Balfron Tower, Poplar: imparting ‘a delicate sense of terror’
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/balfron-to...

You can just smell the axonometric graph paper.

New Town-y vibes in Birkenhead.

Chain Stores is here!

It's Publication Day - and my first copies arrived in the morning post! Here's a glimpse of the chapter on shoe shops.

Over the next weeks I'll post some of the material that I couldn't fit into the book, including extra pictures.

Thanks @livunipress.bsky.social.

Only a 20 minute bus ride away 🙂

20% off all products in my LondonTube Patterns collection for just this weekend. Use discount code LondonPatterns at checkout architectural-icons.com/collections/...

Monstrosities Mon Amour: The Savoy Centre with Rose Ruane #6. John Grindrod meets novelist Rose Ruane to explore the brutalist bazaar of Glasgow's Savoy Centre and to experience the Norma Major delights of Eternal Beau crockery

Let’s visit the shopping centre time forgot: Glasgow’s brutalist bazaar, with the erudite and hilarious @regretteruane.bsky.social, taking in the Norma Major of crockery designs, Eternal Beau on the way open.substack.com/pub/johngrin...

Best building in a New Town. Fight me.

2002, you should be ashamed of yourself for this small-windowed Tudorbethan tosh.

Walking round IKEA yesterday, all of those room sets the ghosts of more optimistic times, made for the dreams of a different world

Peter Hirst in front of two of his Somerset brutalist designs

His brutalist design for Somerset College of Art

His proposed brutalist design for Taunton theatre

His unbuilt design for Croydon town hall

Lovely little exhibition of architect Peter Hirst’s work for Croydon, Sutton, Berkshire and Somerset, at the urban room in the Whitgift Centre. He was there today talking about being Peter Smithson’s student at the AA

A narrow alley slices through shadow, guiding the eye toward a bold, orange building glowing in sunlight. A puddle down the center mirrors the vibrant facade. #photography

A spill of light leads nowhere and everywhere. #photography

Lots of good stuff on the Harlow Sculpture Trail (though the town centre is being dug up right now, so the central ones are entombed behind wooden covers).

Well this is the first time I've noticed the weirdest window in Edinburgh

Went on a little detour to Elm Park yesterday and found this fabulous village sign.

A black and white photograph of the now demolished Daily Mirror offcie in London

The engineer turned architect Owen Williams, born on 20th March 1890, was one of the most prominent modernists of the interwar years, and helped create postwar Britain with his roads, bridges, offices and aircraft hangers. Read more about The Concrete King here
buff.ly/UDdSOsN

BRUTAL Bristol II zine

BRUTAL Bristol II is in and ready to order!

A little hint of what @raynewman.bsky.social prepared for the zine.

ourshadowswillremain.bigcartel.com

This is a banger. And weirdly has Bedford train station on the cover.

Welbeck Street Car Park

The Hotel that replaced it

Welbeck St before and after. This zine explores the car park as it awaits demolition. Also includes a great poem by Owen Collins.

ourshadowswillremain.bigcartel.com/product/brutal-iv-welbeck

Chuffed to have all five works through the initial round: 13 000 entries down to 3 000... fingers crossed for the next stage! Thanks Jacksons Art Prize 2025! 🤞

MEUSE | BALANCE | GANGWAY
PASSERELLE | HOMECOMING
🔗 Extended longlist link in bio

#art #painting #cityscape #infrastructure

Calling all modelmakers! If you worked with anyone early in your career who was an architectural modelmaker in the postwar period 1945-1970, please get in touch as you may be able to help with my current research project. #modelmaking #postwar #research #architecture #USA

MANY DECISIONS MADE HERE. CAN’T COMMENT ON WHETHER THEY WERE GOOD ONES.

Cottage housing

Cottage housing and green

Terrace

Semi-detached

🚨 New on Substack, my post on Lambeth’s interwar cottage estates: the ‘character of a sleepy garden village’
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/lambeths-i...

10/10 for the hi-tech wigwam Iceland in Chelmsford.