Paddington, Bare: Breaking New Ground Walk
Paddington, Bare: Breaking New Ground Walk
Saturday 20 August 2022
Start time/place: 10am/south-east corner of the A404 Harrow Road and Edgware Road
Finish time/place: 2pm/corner of Praed St and South Wharf Road
A walk led by Chris Rogers through the heart of Paddington, London, to explore its architecture, which has been transformed over the past fifteen years. It is a thrillingly Piranesian world of decks, ramps and bridges.
For decades Paddington was far less loved than the children’s character that shares its name, whilst two centuries of notable transport ‘firsts’ below, on and above the ground were forgotten. Yet its waterways, roadways and railways have left a topography quite unlike any other, through which generations of impressive, idiosyncratic and innovative twentieth-century architecture have been cleverly threaded.
Chris Rogers examines Sixties survivors from Richard Seifert and Bicknell and Hamilton, 'lost' buildings by High-Tech gurus Richard Rogers, Terry Farrell and Nicholas Grimshaw, plus the contemporary works of names such as Sheppard Robson, Fletcher Priest and Kohn Pedersen Fox. With all this plus the Elizabeth Line and Renzo Piano's Cube, the district is now a real discovery just a mile from Mayfair Surprises and interest guaranteed; battered felt hat and marmalade sandwiches optional.
Chris Rogers is an architectural historian and writer. His work can be found at www.chrismrogers.net .
Members: £19 Non-Members: £23
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The Twentieth Century Society is a registered charity, no 1110244
The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider.
Above: Brunel Building, Fletcher Priest, 2019 Photograph: Dirk Lindner