epw024938 ENGLAND (1928). Westminster Cathedral, Westminster, 1928

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Nearby Images (11)

EPW024938
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EPW024745
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EPW019020
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EPW019021
  180° 40m
EAW022155
  33° 50m
EPW052927
  78° 70m
EPW052928
  17° 71m
EPW005723
  70° 118m
EPW021437
  80° 164m
EAW022156
  26° 170m
EPW046940
  28° 282m

Details

Title [EPW024938] Westminster Cathedral, Westminster, 1928
Reference EPW024938
Date 6-October-1928
Link
Place name WESTMINSTER
Parish
District
Country ENGLAND
Easting / Northing 529227, 179071
Longitude / Latitude -0.13822032855134, 51.495307721351
National Grid Reference TQ292791

Pins

Modern view from the top

Alan McFaden
Saturday 29th of March 2014 10:27:43 AM
Saint James's Park

Alan McFaden
Sunday 30th of June 2013 11:34:51 AM
Wellington Barracks

Alan McFaden
Sunday 30th of June 2013 11:34:03 AM
Buckingham Palace

Alan McFaden
Sunday 30th of June 2013 11:33:12 AM
Victoria Street

Alan McFaden
Sunday 23rd of June 2013 11:06:56 PM
Westminster Cathedral

Alan McFaden
Sunday 23rd of June 2013 11:06:05 PM
Alas, the interior, planned by John Bentley to be a dazzling Aladdin's cave of marble surfaces up to 30 feet, and above that colour-and-gilt mosaic pictures, has never been finished (except in the dramatic Lady Chapel). Alan's splendid picture reveals this stark contrast between the decorated interior and the bare, dark brick above.



Readers are recommended to consult a copy of Patrick Rogers' text on "Westminster Cathedral: From Darkness to Light", published in 2003, the same year that I last visited this building, during the course of which I met Patrick in the South Transept! His book is the story of the Cathedral from its planning stages in the late-Victorian era to the present day.



My first awareness of Westminster Cathedral coincided exactly with that of Sir Roy Strong, which is mentioned in his Prologue to the book. In Alfred Hitchkock's film, "Foreign Correspondent", there is a sequence on the balcony of the Cathedral's tower, so my introduction to the building was also on celluloid! I recall that this thriller was shown on BBC TV during a prolonged rain delay in the Fourth Test against New Zealand, at The Oval, in August 1958.

Thanks for prompting the memory, Alan! Go dte tu slan...Sean Og MacS (Ros Mhic Thriuin, Chontae Loch Garman, An Poblacht na hEireann, 1997-2008).

John Swain
Saturday 15th of March 2014 09:32:02 AM
Westminster Cathedral

Alan McFaden
Saturday 13th of April 2013 11:35:11 AM
Westminster Cathedral

Alan McFaden
Wednesday 20th of March 2013 08:09:56 PM
St. James' Park

John Swain
Tuesday 26th of February 2013 02:06:08 PM
Archbishop's House

John Swain
Tuesday 26th of February 2013 02:03:53 PM
Vauxhall Bridge Road

John Swain
Tuesday 26th of February 2013 02:00:07 PM
Buckingham Palace

Class31
Wednesday 21st of November 2012 09:49:02 PM
Victoria Street

Class31
Wednesday 21st of November 2012 09:47:31 PM
Ambrosden Avenue

Class31
Wednesday 21st of November 2012 09:45:11 PM
Francis Street

Class31
Wednesday 21st of November 2012 09:43:16 PM

User Comment Contributions

Westminster Cathedral, 21/05/2014

Class31
Thursday 22nd of May 2014 01:02:15 PM
A truly magnificent building viewed from the south-west before the Victorian clutter was cleared on its northern aspect. Surely one of the Capital's most iconic images and thus deserving of inclusion in a future Aerofilms book.

John Swain
Saturday 11th of May 2013 09:19:18 AM
Westminster Cathedral resulted directly from the Catholic Revival in the last quarter of the 19th century under the direction of Cardinal Manning. The commission for the new building was awarded in 1894 to John Bentley and he designed his masterpiece in Italian Byzantine, with a 284' tall Venetian campanile tower at the west end. The cathedral was finished in 1903, with a pleasing use of brick (12 million) and white Portland Limestone, to create one of the most dramatic polychrome structures in London. Most of the old Victorian clutter to the north-west has been swept away in post-war years and the red-and-white pavemented approach-piazza has been completed to enhance the appearance of this fine building.

John Swain
Tuesday 26th of February 2013 01:58:59 PM