Modernist Delights

Commercial Union House in the sharp summer sunshine, London, 2025

A close up of 3 storeys of windows, with a little bit of the sky visible in the top right corner. The building itself is clad with different shades of brown tile. The windows span the width of the building at equal intervals, and are darkened. Behind them are dishevelled vertical blinds.

Show me a darkened window and I’ll be there.

Aldersgate Court, City of London, 2025

An angular brick 90's housing block. A dark shadow is cast across the rightmost side of it by taller buildings out of view.

This 90’s housing block is by no definition modernist, but the shadows cast in this narrow alleyway were impossible to resist.

Once-futuristic signage, London, 2025

A sign reading Zero Seven London Dental Practice set in a wide, bold sans serif font. The words Zero and Seven are separated with a colon and feature a thick solid border above and below. They are on one line, with the word London in a much smaller font, inset into the border underneath. Underneath that, it says Dental Practice and the phone number, in a larger font across 3 lines.

Bonus points if you recognise the building in the background.

Patrick Coman House, Finsbury Estate, Clerkenwell, London, 2025

A shot of a 9 storey housing estate building shot at an angle of about 30 degrees to the face of the building. Each storey is fronted by a rough textured concrete walkway, and at equal intervals ribbed balconies made of an opaque white material, possibly also concrete, curve outwards. Residents' satellite dishes cast shadows in the spring sun. In the foreground, a leafy tree covers most of the first set of balconies.

Entire societies have lived and died in the time I have prevaricated over whether to post this, but… I don’t know, something about this one just catches my eye.

Balconies of Wells House, Spa Green Estate, Clerkenwell, London, 2025

Ground level shot looking up at an 8 storey building, focusing on the balconies. These alternate with tiles at the sides and latticed fencing in the middle, and vice versa. The balconies are inset into the building and either side of them is a grid of clean, PVC windows.

Brunswick Centre in the sunset, London, 2025

A photo of the Brunswick Centre taken at a 45 degree angle. It is a concrete ziggurat-style structure, painted white, with small conservatory-like glass balconies on each floor. The sun is setting, and people are crossing the zebra crossing on front of the building.

A detail photo of the Brunswick Centre. It is a concrete structure painted white, ziggurat-style, about 6 stories. The photo shows a front-on view of 4 glass conservatories coming out the face of the building on each floor.

A detail photo of the Brunswick Centre, showing two concrete columns rising a few metres above the top storey of the building. They appear to be used for cooling, with vents in the top section of the column.

Retro signage in Islington, London, 2025

An aged sign above a shop with closed battered metal shutters. The background is cream and in various fonts it reads BEST FLIGHT - Travel Agency and Taste Byte offering Internet & Indian food, as well as other text. The sign has aluminium edging around it.

The Internet and Indian food — I would never need to leave.

Concrete ramp, London Euston station, 2025

A ramp with short sides made of concrete. In the sky, the sun is breaking through the clouds. There are trains either way of the ramp, as well as other central London buildings in the background.

As the train snaked its’ way through outer London, I thought to myself “how long until I find some concrete to photograph” – turns out, I only needed to wait until it pulled into Euston and I caught glimpse of this ramp, once used for British Rail’s Red Star Parcels service, in the moody summer sundown.

Former Co-operative, Southport, 2025

A 4 storey department store building with some touches of art deco style. On the corner, there is a round window with a staircase visible.

Another art deco influenced, round window centrepiece in Southport.

Art deco flourish on a mixed use property, Southport, 2025

A semi-circular column of windows above a nondescript high street casino, rising to 3 storeys. The sides of the fairly narrow building, either side of the windows, are white, with art deco detailing.

Originally a men’s tailors, later a hairdresser’s salon and office spaces (credit Philip Mayer), now an unsympathetically-fronted high street casino with 6 one-bedroom flats added in 2019 (source).

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