Bicycle Tag of bike

Nah, I heard Opus Dei do all His Work now.

OLD: Banksy, Edith Grove.

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NEW: theme.

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^^ What's the round thing? Is it part of the Banksy or unrelated?

I think it's by Endless, part of his Lizzy Vuitton series

Ah, thanks. Clearly not as popular as Banksy, or it would have been nicked by now.

Apparently he has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and is the first street artist to have a permanent piece in the Uffizi. Not sure the art thieves have cottoned on yet.

https://www.endlesstheartist.com/exhibitions.html

Yeah, but it's not a Banksy!!1!

Ha! I fell down the Endless rabbit hole as well. Tellingly it’s only been there for a few days. What an opportunist!

I've got two 12 inch singles with Banksy artwork on the front that are worth a ton of money more than they should be.

Roots Manuva - Yellow Submarine and Blak Twang - So Rotton if you were wondering

my office

Oh hello neighbour

I've got two 12 inch singles with Banksy artwork on the front that are worth a ton of money more than they should be.

There's a compilation series called BadMeaningGood that has a similar thing. I bought the first one about 2002 I guess, by Peanut Butter Wolf, cos it had some interesting things on it that have really influenced me, then saw it in Reckless recently with a huge pricetag. Same story with a Clown skateboard I sold recently for quite a few quid - I had no idea either was by Wanksy for ages.

I really think they should all be IMMEDIATELY squirted with those huge bicycle pump tags (or whatever it is they use to make them ... fire extinguishers?). I mean fuck him.

He allegedly stencilled police vehicles at Glastonbury over the years.

I thought he had helpers but he made the stencils and did the art bit. But then what do I know. Learning how many modern artists have factories of poorly paid art people producing their work.

DM sent, I thought you were strictly Whitehall.

Old: To foil Will's unstinting efforts at killing the game*, I thought I'd get this. The poster Will tagged has long, well, been postered over (it did say 'farewell' on it), so I thought I'd take pictures of the general monkeying around in Brick Lane. There were some monkeys on the bridge, too, but unfortunately they didn't come out properly in the pictures.

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New: I've long thought this would be an A1 tag. It's probably the best way of showing how idiotic the development around it was. It's a bit like The House They Left Behind, which used to be a pub in Narrow Street (this is not a clue, and the current tag is nowhere near Narrow Street).

* I hope you can see my irony-mongering here.

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Old: Worshipful co of Iron(y)mongers, by Museum of London, London Wall/A1 roundabout.

New: the only thing that reveals this was once a building is this big stone and the surrounding trees

Clue: a saint who was known for turning his back on parties and loose living yet is considered a patron saint of brewers.

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Good. I think it's the only historic building (well, 1920s, not hyper-historic, but not a bad building at all) that survived the building of the Barbican Estate (apart from assorted ruins). I hope that when the former Museum of London corner is redeveloped, it'll be more sympathetic to Ironmongers' Hall (there have been vague noises towards 'increasing its visibility'). As it is, it's one of the worst examples of context that I know in London.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1485812

The extension, which is not listed, was constructed in this shape to fit into the existing constrained site, but I think should really be thought of again within a more holistic partly-surrounding scheme. I don't know whether the Company would have the finance for that, though.

As you might expect, the proposals for the future of the site(s) are even worse than what is there at the moment, as is generally the case with the parlous state of development in London, so I'm not hopeful. There's quite a lot of action around it at the moment, and it's just so interesting that some people want to defend the sort of 'Twentieth Century' architecture that the conservation movement was essentially set up to oppose. They may be right, and it may be hopeless to think that new development would improve it, but this is going to be a long process whatever happens.

https://museumsandheritage.com/advisor/posts/plans-to-demolish-former-museum-of-london-site-paused/

Nonetheless, it's one of the most important sites in London right now, and the move of the Museum of London to the West Smithfield site easily the most positive development in London for decades (just about everything else that's happened has been awful, but it's good irrespective of that).

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/19/vaults-shock-find-under-london-museum-enchants-its-builders

I would hope for a development that doesn't build overbearing façades along London Wall and the A1 and only staggers greater development height behind them, that removes the roundabout entirely (of course, adjoining buildings have been built to that junction shape, e.g. the execrable One London Wall building and the buildings to the west of the junction, but that's not necessarily such a bad thing, as a crossroads there would then have some scope for good public spaces), and that includes a public square outside Ironmongers' Hall, perhaps with the extension rethought. The stuff to the north would remain, but overall the context would improve immeasurably.

Interesting points Oliver, and great tag. That whole area is probably best experienced from the network of elevated walkways than street level, but even then I imagine you struggle to see the hall. I also wasn't aware the hall and the road are not the lowest surface as there appears to be open air vehicle access one level below them too, probably closer to the original surface

I somehow doubt a low rise development would happen.

Great to see those vaults under Smithfield!

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Interesting points Oliver, and great tag. That whole area is probably best experienced from the network of elevated walkways than street level, but even then I imagine you struggle to see the hall.

You do indeed. I've never noticed it when going to the Museum. And for those who don't know (who don't include many on this thread), the elevated walkway system is because of the influence of the 1959 Buchanan Report 'Traffic in Towns', which recommended having (motor) traffic (and car parking) at ground level and to move most other functions upstairs, e.g. pedestrian traffic to the first floor, which is why the Barbican is constructed the way it is (likewise many other buildings around the world, particularly in Atlanta, Georgia).

I also wasn't aware the hall and the road are not the lowest surface as there appears to be open air vehicle access one level below them too, probably closer to the original surface

Yes, I was wondering about that, but I don't know the reason. Maybe it's just because the surface level there is closer to the original moat, and/or because they couldn't achieve the footprint for car parking at (the new) ground level that they wanted.

I somehow doubt a low rise development would happen.

You don't say. :) Obviously, I have no illusions about that. What I meant was that I'd hope they'd place the tall elements towards the back of the development.

Great to see those vaults under Smithfield!

Yes, a fortuitous and attractive discovery. As ever, it's just amazing that even in such a major project, no-one knew about them when they started. It's such a shame we've lost the vaults of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard, and I hope they'll do a good job with the Waterloo vaults.

Speaking of the Museum (and I prefer 'Museum of London' to 'London Museum', but that train has left the station):

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-museum-smithfield-market-city-of-london-mayor-sadiq-khan-b1180276.html

Old: stone marking the site of St Augustine's Church, Victoria Park

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New:

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That needs a clue.