The London Daily Newsletter Friday 28 July

Gas Light and Coke Company
The gasometers of the Gas Light and Coke company dominated North Kensington until demolition in the late 20th century.

In 1845 the Western Gas Company had opened a gasworks on land, previously the property of Sir George Talbot, with frontages to both the canal and the railway. Taken over by the Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company) was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. It is identified as the original company from which British Gas plc is descended.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

Monet’s ’Le Parlement, soleil couchant,’ (The Houses of Parliament, at Sunset) (1900) Claude Monet painted a series of impressionist oil paintings of the Palace of Westminster, home of the British Parliament, in the autumn of 1899 and the early months of 1900 and 1901 during stays in London. All of the series’ paintings share the same viewpoint from Monet’s window or a terrace at St Thomas’ Hospital overlooking the Thames. By the time of the Houses of Parliament series, Monet had abandoned his earlier practice of completing a painting on the spot in front of the motif. He carried on refining the images back home in Giverny, France, and sent to London for photographs to help in this. This caused some adverse reaction, but Monet’s reply was that his means of creating a work was his own business and it was up to the viewer to judge the final result.

Claude Monet

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.