Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Backward glances

Five years ago this week, on a sunny afternoon at around the time of Wimbledon, the English Buildings blog was born.

7 July 2007, the date of the first post, was also the second anniversary of a date that’s etched on my memory. On 6 July 2005 two friends and I went to the Picture of Britain exhibition at Tate Britain, and during this visit the gallery was evacuated as the result of a bomb scare, an event met with the usual national sang froid and the search for a cup of tea. Driving home later, listening to Radio 4, I heard the announcement that Britain would host the 2012 Olympic Games. No doubt I’d have forgotten all this, except for what happened the following morning: the real thing, in the shape of the 7 July tube and bus bombs, one of which killed a young and cherished colleague.

I simply don’t know whether, at some unconscious level, this blog’s celebration of architectural character, of places, and of the people who have made our buildings is some kind of reaction to the destruction wrought by those bombs, a search for continuity in the face of eradication and extermination.

On a conscious level, I began the blog partly as a kind of informal follow-up to my English Buildings Book, partly as way of sharing some of the buildings I see on my travels, partly as a way of entertaining a few friends who like this kind of thing. I now have more than 250 followers and thousands of other readers, some who read the blog regularly, others who are looking for information on a specific building or subject.

I thought when I started out that I’d be unlikely to keep the blog going for more than a year or two. But the positive responses of readers encourage me to carry on. Comments on the blog give me a channel of communication with my readers that I wouldn’t otherwise have as a writer of books. And the comments can be fascinating – updates on buildings from people who live nearby, nuggets of information about artists and architects, anecdotes that fill in the background to a particular building or place. For example, I’ve enjoyed learning, through comments and readers’ emails, about a building that formed part of the setting of a film, about the iconography of church carvings, about journeys among ruins, about details I missed and the changing fates of buildings in the weeks or years since I posted about them. So a big thank you to my readers, both the occasional visitors to the blog and the regulars, who truly represent continuity in the flux.

* * *

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the English Buildings blog, I’m going to reprise five early posts that most of my readers will not have seen (although all the posts from the blog are archived, and you can access any of them – nearly 500 altogether – via the “BLOG ARCHIVE” feature in the right-hand column). Rather than just repeating old posts, I’ll add a comment or two to the text, or sometimes include a new photograph of the building, so that anyone who did see the post first time around will find something slightly different. 

Then, when the celebrations are over, it will be blogging as usual, but with a couple of new features, which I hope will expand the scope of the blog slightly, while staying true to the character it has developed over the last five years. But first, stand by for five early pieces...

11 comments:

Terry said...

Bravo and thanks for all your posts.

Angela Barnhart said...

I'm a reader from the US. I have been following and reading selections from your archives for about a year. I enjoy your writing very much. Thank you for sharing your love of buildings.

Amateur Reader (Tom) said...

Congratulations. Each new post is a treat.

bazza said...

Philip, I get so much pleasure from this Blog it's hard to believe you could make it any better! I read dozens of Blogs every week but yours is among the best. Really.
Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

Neil said...

Philip - Five years and 500 posts is a tremendous achievement. In a hundred years time they'll be looking at blogs like yours and regarding them as great cultural achievements. Sadly today you have to do it for nothing but the love of it, and accept simply the gratitude of your readers.

Philip Wilkinson said...

Thank you all so much for your generous comments. They mean a great deal to me.

Philip Wilkinson said...

Neil: A special thank you for your remarks, here and generally. Your own blog represents an open-handed sharing of beautiful imagery and fascinating information: long may it continue.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to YOU for starting, and continuing, this blog. I am sure it takes much work and dedication. It has given me a strong desire to hire a car and drive around England in search of buildings of any age, shape, purpose or style. I may do it after the children leave and my wife and I have more time to ourselves. And if we do not get around to it, your blog is the next best thing!
François-Marc Chaballier

Philip Wilkinson said...

François-Marc: Thank you too. It does involve a lot of work, but there are many compensations in the pleasures of discovery and sharing.

Pigtown*Design said...

I was at our offices at Tavistock Square on 6 July 2005 and everyone was thrilled to hear the Olympics news. Was back in Wales at our main location the next day and was horrified to hear the bombing news, especially at Tavistock Square.

Love the blog!

Philip Wilkinson said...

Pigtown: Yes. It was a terrible business - to come so close to it must have been chilling.