Alexandra Palace

On a lofty site in North London sits Alexandra Palace, a Victorian-era entertainment & sports venue still in use today.  The first palace burned down only 16 days after its debut; it was immediately rebuilt, opening in 1875.  In the 1930's, part of the palace was acquired by the BBC as the production and transmission center for their new BBC Television service.

The Rose Window.  It was damaged by a
German bomb in WWII.

The BBC launched television from
Alexandra Palace in 1936.

BBC transmission tower

Muswell Hill neighborhood

An Amble through Hampstead

 

Streatley Place, Victorian Hospital Boilerhouse Chimney

Samuel Johnson and his biographer James Boswell
hung out at The Holly Bush pub in the 1640's.

Hampstead Grove

Admiral's House

Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, lived here.

Holly Walk

St. John's churchyard

Grave of Austrian actor Anton Walbrook, muse of the
British film-makers Powell & Pressburger, most notably
appearing in their 1948 masterpiece, The Red Shoes.

Grave of actress Kay Kendall, the 3rd
of actor Rex Harrison's 6 wives.
Her most famous role was opposite
Gene Kelly in the 1957 musical Les Girls.

Gainsborough Gardens Gate House

Home of famed landscape painter John Constable.

Flask Walk

Today's coffee spot

William Morris Gallery

Water House, in North East London's Walthamstow, was the childhood home of interior designer, craftsman, poet, and social activist, William Morris.  Today it is the William Morris Gallery, devoted to his life and works. Morris wanted to transform the Victorian age; he felt beauty was a basic human need and sought to bring art into everyday life.

Morris in his 30s, already famous,
his poetry admired, & his
interior design firm thriving.

Morris' first wallpaper design

A first class cabin on the doomed ocean liner Titanic.
Morris' fabric decorated the ship's walls.

St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music

Design studio.  In 1877, Morris' design firm opened a
shop in London's fashionable West End.  Furniture,
wallpapers, & textiles were arranged in attractive room
settings to inspire customers.

Saville Armchair, 1890

Stained glass by
Edward Burne-Jones, 1902

Morris established the Kelmscott Press to
bring a design aesthetic to book publishing.

The Earthly Paradise, Morris' epic poem and a
late 1860's bestseller. 

Attendant Angels,
by Henry Holiday, 1909

Eve & Adam

William Morris was a pioneer of the
Arts & Crafts Movement, which flourished
in Britain from the 1880's to the start of WWI.

In the gift shop

Water House, built in the 1740's.
Morris lived here from 1848 to 1856.

Gallery entrance

 

The Cult of Mithras

Across the vast Roman Empire, from Judea to Britannia, were scattered Mithraic temples, erected in classical antiquity by members of the all-male cult of Mithras, a god of mysterious origin.  Preserved beneath the Bloomberg company's modern European headquarters building downtown is one of Britain's most important archaeological discoveries, the London Mithraeum, the fascinating ruins of Roman Londinium's temple to Mithras, dating from AD240.  Members of the cult of Mithras gathered in the temple to feast and perform sacred rites.

Roman-era artifacts uncovered at the mithraeum site.

A reproduction of the artifact that linked the ruin to Mithras.

Viewing platform at the temple's original entrance.

The metal outline represents the location of
the altar and its figure of Mithras. 

Artist's depiction of a Mithras cult initiation within the temple.

A cocktail lounge in the neighborhood.

Tower of St. Mary-le-Bow

The Royal Exchange, at center

Mansion House, built in the 1740's 

Inside the Royal Exchange

A peek at the Walkie-Talkie

A peek at St. Paul's