City thoughts: part three – The Property Chronicle
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City thoughts: part three A great tradition of ideas

The Architect

Blackfriars bridge, London

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Earlier this year at Zaha Hadid’s memorial service, as speeches, including one by her friend Lord Palumbo (all ill-assisted by unnecessary artificial amplification), echoed incoherently around the great vessel I was reminded how St Paul’s still holds so much of the city’s memories and mythology. For the state, for those like Zaha who have become Londoners and for the many who have never even visited the city, St. Paul’s is the city. The Blitz, the last great fire of London, is remembered by Herbert Mason’s much retouched photo of Wren’s St Paul’s (burning or standing depending on whether you read Beaverbrook or Goebbels’ propaganda machines) in exactly the same way as 17th century paintings recall the silhouette of medieval St Paul’s.






The Architect

About Simon Allford

Simon Allford

Simon Allford has been elected the next President of the Royal Institute of British Architects and will take over the two-year presidential term from 1 September. He is a founding Director of AHMM (where he leads a design studio of 200 architects), a frequent writer, critic and adviser; a visiting professor at Harvard; a previous chairman of the Architecture Foundation; and currently a trustee of the London School of Architecture and the Chickenshed Theatres Trust.

Articles by Simon Allford

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