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#LondonPics 90 Beautiful scene from Surrey Quays last year #NoFilter

Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 09/10/2026

Although Furnival’s Inn was demolished to make way for the Prudential Assurance headquarters you see today, the ghost of Dickens' early genius remains built into the foundation. Keep an eye out for the bronze bust of Dickens - a quiet nod to the historic rooms where Mr Pickwick was born

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 09/10/2026

The building was rebuilt as apartments by a new owner who retained the old name. Charles Dickens rented rooms here between 1834 and 1837, including after his marriage. He began the Pickwick Papers while a tenant there and the character John Westlock in Martin Chuzzlewit lives in Furnival's Inn.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 09/10/2026

By the 17th century, the Inns of Chancery began to turn into societies for lawyers; they became residences, offices and dining clubs. The Inn was dissolved as a society in 1817 when Lincoln's Inn did not renew its lease, and the medieval building was demolished in 1818.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 09/10/2026

By the 15th century the Inns of Chancery had become preparatory schools for students wishing to be called to the bar by the Inns of Court. In 1548 Furnivals Inn was affiliated to Lincoln's Inn through a long-term lease.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 09/10/2026

It was built on the site of Furnival's Inn of the Inns of Chancery on the edge of the City. It was founded about 1383 when William de Furnival leased a boarding facility to Clerks of Chancery, who prepared writs for the king's courts, assisted by apprentices who received a preliminary legal training

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 09/10/2026

#LondonPics 89 This is Holborn Bars - the former Prudential Assurance Company Building built in the late 1800s. Prudential moved out in 1999 but still seems to own it. It was designed in Gothic Revival style by architects Alfred Waterhouse and his son Paul, and built by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 08/10/2026

2. Imported Goods: Lions symbolised exotic, far-reaching maritime trade. Oil merchants didn't just sell local fats; they sold expensive whale oil, Mediterranean olive oils, and imported pigments from across the British Empire Before being painted white, the pots and lions would have really stood out

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 08/10/2026

These symbolise 1. Strength and Quality: It signalled that their industrial grease, machinery oils, and household paints were of the highest, most durable grade.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 08/10/2026

The lion on the stonework indicates that 39 Greville St originally traded under "The Sign of the Lion" (or a variation like the Red Lion or Golden Lion). It was highly common for an Oil and Colourman (paint pigment merchant) to choose a predatory or regal beast like a lion or leopard for their crest

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 08/10/2026

The's a lion symbol on the stonework. Before London adopted systematic street numbering, shops were located by their custom signs (eg "at the sign of the Golden Fleece"). Even after numbers were introduced, businesses kept these symbols for branding and to guide illiterate customers

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 08/10/2026

This was a large, sculpted oil jar built directly into the property facade. They're camouflaged now as they've been painted over, but in the 18th and 19th centuries, these jars were used as prominent storefront signs. They indicated a merchant who sold oil for lamps, cooking, and household hardware

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 08/10/2026

#LondonPics 88 I always say to look up for signs of London's past. Above my favourite silver and jewellery supply store on Greville Street, Bellore Rashbel, is a large clay pot sliced vertically in half and affixed flat against the brickwork.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

#LondonPics 87 Always worth looking up in London. This is a floral art installation in Slingsby Place near Covent Garden. On particularly sunny days, it fills the ground beneath it in coloured light

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

The clock tower is an example of early post-war architecture, and an aesthetic that became known as the "Festival Style". It is now Grade II listed.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

The estate was a landmark project in post-war urban renewal, and formed part of the Live Architecture Exhibition at the Festival of Britain, 1951 - although the clock tower wasn't completed until 1952.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

The 2nd picture is the Chrisp Street Market Clock Tower, with the market at the front, and Balfron Tower in the background. The tower was designed in 1949 by Frederick Gibberd in plans for Chrisp Street Market, a pedestrianised shopping area to form the commercial centre of the new Lansbury Estate

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

When writing his 1959 novel Goldfinger, Fleming decided to exact petty revenge by naming his ruthless, uncompromising villain after the architect, even matching the character's overbearing ego to the real man's abrasive personality.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

Ernő Goldfinger designed and built his controversial modernist home at 2 Willow Road in 1939, which required demolishing older Victorian cottages. Fleming lived nearby and detested the new concrete architecture, feeling it ruined the local neighbourhood character.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

Brutalist architecture always divides people. Author Ian Fleming named his iconic James Bond villain Auric Goldfinger after Ernő Goldfinger following a bitter local feud in Hampstead.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

It's 28-stories and stands 84 metres tall, featuring a distinct, separate service infrastructure tower connected to the main block by aerial walkways. It served as the precursor to Goldfinger's famous Trellick Tower in west London. It's now Grade II* listed.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 04/10/2026

#LondonPics 86 Two pictures in Poplar. The first is the Balfron Tower on the Brownfield Estate. Designed by Ernő Goldfinger and completed in 1967 as social housing (although no longer all social housing).

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 03/10/2026

This clever architectural illusion means that anyone looking up at it sees what looks like a 130-year-old brick monument, but it is actually a lightweight, hollow plastic shell enclosing the modern high-temperature flue pipes of the underground green energy hub

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 03/10/2026

To prevent the massive weight of a full traditional brick rebuild on top of the old structure, engineers opted for a lightweight, weather-resistant GRP structure.The plastic exterior panels were precision-molded and coloured to mimic the texture, mortar lines, and aged look of London stock brickwork

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 03/10/2026

Because the building sits in a highly regulated conservation area, the planning authorities dictated that the silhouette and appearance of the chimney had to be preserved exactly to maintain Farringdon’s historic industrial skyline.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 03/10/2026

Decades of acidic emissions from burning coal and heavy diesel had severely deteriorated the structural integrity of the original brick stack. It became a safety hazard, prone to crumbling.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 03/10/2026

The chimney was meticulously replaced around 1993 using a Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) cladding system (often referred to as fiberglass or composite plastic) with a faux-brick finish.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 03/10/2026

While the historic street-facing facades of the Port of London Authority building on Charterhouse Street are original, the actual towering 23-metre chimney stack rising behind them was completely rebuilt using a modern replica material.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 03/10/2026

Recently I found out that the square chimney to the right of the St Paul's dome that I've been looking at for nearly 30 years is a fake! I had assumed it had once spewed coal fumes to power the nearby Smithfield Meat Market and its cold stores when they were completed in late 19th/early 20th century

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 03/10/2026

#LondonPics 85 I always loved this view from Clerkenwell Road. - 18th century: St Paul's Cathedral completed - 19th century: Farringdon Underground station opened - early 20th century: chimney from the Citigen power station at Smithfield - 21st century: Shard complete But more than it seems....

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 02/10/2026

#LondonPics 84 This is an old one of the Thames and Tower Bridge lit up for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 29/09/2026

The upper and ground-level sections are used as a storage shed for gardening tools, while the underground bunker remains largely disused.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 29/09/2026

The Charing Cross Electricity Company needed an above-ground entrance for the subterranean substation. They designed it in a "Tudorbethan" style, reusing older 17th- and 18th-century beams, to resemble an old gardener's hut and fit the park's aesthetic.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 29/09/2026

#LondonPics 83 The iconic mock-Tudor hut in the centre of Soho Square Gardens was built in 1925 as an architectural disguise for an underground electricity substation. It's now Grade II listed.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 27/09/2026

#LondonPics 82 Lights and their reflections at Conduit Court Passage, off Long Acre near Covent Garden.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 27/09/2026

The bench caught my eye. The sides are designed to echo the line of the bow of a ship - but the end bronze sculptures are actually built-in ashtrays! The incredible detail on this tells you a lot about the industry and people who worked in the building when the building was opened in 1901.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 27/09/2026

#LondonPics 81 This bench is in the Lloyd's Register Building before the Chairman's Office. It was designed by the sculptor Frank Lynn Jenkins who designed the sweeping bronze frieze on the first-floor landing and the sculpture "The Spirit of British Maritime Commerce" at the top of the staircase.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 27/09/2026

- Number of days since the beginning of the year - Phases of the moon - Days since last new moon (poet. "age of the moon") - Hour when it passes meridian/anti-meridian and thus high water at London Bridge (for Henry VIII to plan barge trips to the Tower of London and Palace of Westminster)

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 27/09/2026

The clock is 15 feet in diameter with three separate copper dials revolving at different speeds and displays the following information: - Hour (in 24-hour time) - Month - Day of month - Twelve signs of the zodiac - Position of the Sun in the ecliptic relative to the background stars (zodiac) ....

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 27/09/2026

#LondonPics 80 This is the clock tower at Hampton Court Palace featuring a magnificent 16th century astronomical clock. The clock was installed in 1540 on the gatehouse to the inner court and it is still functioning - albeit with parts replaced.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

It is a fine and beautiful example of baroque design by the architect James Gibbs, informed by a sophisticated knowledge of ancient, Renaissance and contemporary European architecture.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

#LondonPics 79 These two photos really don't do justice to the gem that is St Mary le Strand. It's stunning in detail and scale. The original church building was demolished in 1549 to make way for Somerset House. The new church was consecrated in 1724.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

From bakeries to bars and restaurants to reflexology, today Chinatown is a thriving hub of wonder. Souvenir shops, health clinics, barbers, travel agents – it really does have everything.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

In the 1980s the area got the full Chinatown treatment; Chinese gates, street furniture and a pavilion were added, plus Gerrard Street, parts of Newport Place and Macclesfield Street became pedestrianised.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

#LondonPics 78 The always vibrant Chinatown. I go for the supermarkets, but most go to find and experience authentic East and Southeast Asian cuisine in the very heart of London.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

After more than a century of service, the bridge was dismantled in 1985 when the new Thameslink railway bridge was built next to it, but its pillars were left behind as a reminder of London's rich railway history.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

The disused red columns in the Thames are the remains of the original Blackfriars Railway Bridge, which first opened in 1864 to accommodate the London, Chatham and Dover Railway when it was extended North across the river.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

#LondonPics 77 Blackfriars Bridge during the Totally Thames Festival, with St Paul's Cathedral dome in the background. Turning the Tide was a public film and projection installation by Turner Prize-nominated artist Catherine Yass, displayed on the disused columns in the river during the festival.

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

The building was completed in 1901 and it was great to volunteer there and look round as part of Open House London, following the recent refurbishment

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Tania Cohen @tanias.london · 26/09/2026

It was designed by Gerald Moria and likely made by James Powell & Sons, it brings the symbols of the four nations of Great Britain together - the rose, thistle, leek and shamrock - filling the stairwell with colour and meaning.

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