Architect: Burnham & Company

Materia 4: Brick

Materia 4: Brick

Gordon Shrigley

This text is the fourth in a series by Gordon Shrigley titled ‘Materia’ in which the architect meditates on the physical and semiotic nature of a number of everyday construction products.  Coarse rectangular lumps of clay mixed with straw and water, small enough to be carried in one or two hands, are laid… Read More

Alternative Histories: Office Winhov on Burnham & Co.

Alternative Histories: Office Winhov on Burnham & Co.

Conversation piece in blue Daniel Hudson Burnham’s buildings are based on a classical order of well-proportioned elements with a strict load-bearing tectonic expression – a familiar architectural language still spoken today. But, as with all languages, this tectonic language gradually transforms as the context in which it is spoken changes. The… Read More

The changing metropolis 1900–1930s

The changing metropolis 1900–1930s

Niall Hobhouse and Nicholas Olsberg

Part II: Unifying the city landscape: 1900–1930s The area of Finsbury in north London became a borough in 1900 and proposals rapidly appeared to replace the terraces of George Dance the Younger’s Finsbury Square and Finsbury Circus with a large volume of continuous office blocks. John Belcher’s proposal seems to… Read More