I love London... One thing that has always struck me about it though, it that it's not a place of harmony. The historic buildings seem to have been designed as individual units with no thought to their neighbors, with each building trying to impress, dominate, and intimidate on its own, with the end result being that the old city had a sort of scowling grandeur. I can only imagine how much more pronounced that aspect of things was back when the entire city was coated in a black layer of coal smoke grime. Meanwhile the newer buildings were, one, designed by the thousands at the nadir of urban design in the 1950's and 1960's, and, two, designed not to merely clash with each other and their historic counterparts, but to openly brawl with them. The trend toward novelty architecture, such as with that one building that looks like a giant walkie-talkie, only exacerbated that aspect of things. The total result of it all, to me, is that London is vibrant, refreshing, vital... but God almighty is it ugly.
But, oh, how I do love her so...
__________________
"To sustain the life of a large, modern city in this cloying, clinging heat is an amazing achievement. It is no wonder that the white men and women in Greenville walk with a slow, dragging pride, as if they had taken up a challenge and intended to defy it without end." -- Rebecca West for The New Yorker, 1947
|