{"id":2775,"date":"2010-12-03T14:00:38","date_gmt":"2010-12-03T14:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2011-01-07T12:26:38","modified_gmt":"2011-01-07T12:26:38","slug":"a-walk-through-the-barbican-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/a-walk-through-the-barbican-london\/","title":{"rendered":"A walk through the Barbican, London"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-01.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I love walking along the elevated walkways around the Barbican on a weekend when there&#8217;s barely a soul around.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->We started our walk from Moorgate tube station, where the\u00a0surrounding\u00a0architecture\u00a0mixes up the old, the good, the bad, the hideous 80s, the ghastly clunky 90s and some easier-on-the-eye modern developments.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-02.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The curve of Moor House. Located at the corner of Moorgate and London Wall, the building was designed by Foster and Partners and offers 28,000 m\u00b2 of office space in 19 storeys.<\/p>\n<p>A 36 m shaft under the building incorporates part of Crossrail&#8217;s new station and ticket hall serving Liverpool Street.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-03.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-04.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-05.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Window detail.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-06.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Looking towards the Barbican as we climbed up to the elevated walkway.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-07.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/CityPoint\" target=\"_blank\">CityPoint tower<\/a>, Ropemaker Street on the northern fringes of the City of London..<\/p>\n<p>It was originally built in 1967 as a 35-storey, 122 metres (400 ft) tall headquarters for British Petroleum (now BP).<\/p>\n<p>It lost its original name of Britannic House after a large \u00a0refurbishment in 2000 boosted the height to 127 metres (417 ft) and increased the available floor space.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-09.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;When the planners dream goes wrong.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>All of the shops and commercial premises on the walkway were closed, including this pub. I assume they&#8217;re about to be redeveloped.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-10.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-11.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>View of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/heron-tower-skyscraper-110-bishopsgate-london\/\" target=\"_blank\">Heron<\/a> and Gherkin towers from the Barbican.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-12.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-13.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Deserted roads in the heart of London.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-14.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-15.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Look at the tackle on that!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-16.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-17.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Another view of CityPoint with its distinctive curved shape and roof feature.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-18.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Built between 1965 and 1976, on a 35-acre World War II bomb site, the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Barbican_Estate\" target=\"_blank\">Barbican estate<\/a> now houses 4,000 people living in 2,014 flats. Its\u00a0concrete-tastic construction isn&#8217;t to\u00a0everyone&#8217;s\u00a0tastes, but it&#8217;s now Grade II listed.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-19.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I sort of like this stark slab of concrete, even if it does look like a Brutalist\u00a0 castle.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-20.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Parts of the old shopping centre are in a bit of a state.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-21.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A glimpse of old London.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-22.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Closed bank.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-23.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-24.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Still standing amongst all the concrete is this piece of medieval London.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-25.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-26.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Podium pub is boarded up.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-27.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Designed by architect Richard Rogers, 88 Wood Street is a striking building. I initially thought this was the Lloyds building, but have been corrected by the readers below. Thanks!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-28.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-29.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-30.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The dramatic sight of the Lloyd&#8217;s building at night.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/barbican-walk-london-31.jpg\" alt=\"A walk through the Barbican, London\" \/><\/p>\n<p>[<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Moorgate\" target=\"_blank\">Moorgate history<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love walking along the elevated walkways around the Barbican on a weekend when there&#8217;s barely a soul around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,193],"tags":[199,361,362,351],"class_list":["post-2775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-london-features","category-places","tag-architecture","tag-barbican","tag-moorgate","tag-skyscraper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/barbican-walk-london-01.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQI7P-IL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2775"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2778,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions\/2778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}