Update - Inside the 50p Building

Checking out the views from the 21st floor

A while back I blogged about one of my favourite London buildings No. 1 Croydon, otherwise known as the 50p Building. It's a one that divides opinion; you either love or hate it.

Well I love it, so when I read that it would be open to the public as part of Open House London I jumped at the chance to get inside and check out the views.

A bit about Open House London; for one weekend each year, Open-City (a not for profit architectural organisation) works with hundreds of buildings across London to see them open their doors to the public for free. A huge range of buildings are open to view; there are contemporary office blocks, London landmarks, private homes, schools, courts, hotels and palaces....the list can be viewed here. Last year i went to a windmill. In Croydon. It can't get more random than that.

So yesterday me and The Boy visited the 50p Building. They had opened up the 21st floor as a viewing gallery and also the location for a consultation on the development of the area around East Croydon Rail station (hopefully I'll blog on that at a later date). It was a perfect day for it - clear and sunny so the views were amazing. You could see as far as Wembley Arch and Canary Wharf. It's at times like this that I wish I had a better camera....

That's Canary Wharf in the distance...honest.

I love this picture too. Suburb-tastic or what?

Looking East from 50p building towards my street.

If you get the chance, get out today and discover a building in your area. Otherwise, get a date in the diary for next years event.

Reykjavik

Reykjavik was amazing. Me and the boy had 3 days there which was just the right time to enjoy the city, the people and the beautiful, if strangely alien landscape; flat and sparse, hot geothermal pools and cool weather (14 degrees Celsius is the high in summer), volcanic and yet calm.

For a look at the raw beauty of Reykjavik, the boy's blog provides a much better report (and pictures), but for me, the surprise highlight was the architecture. Reykjavik really came into it's own post WWII when there was a mass exodus of people from the countryside and outer areas, and the city began to develop into the metropolitan hub it is today. This means that the overall look is incredibly modern - in London I'm used to historic buildings and architecture spanning centuries rather than just a few decades. Reykjavik was therefore an eye opener to how a city could look if it started 'from scratch'.

Hallgrimskirja

This is Hallgrimskirja - a Lutheran church  - and now one of my favourite buildings ever. I can't say I'm normally that bothered about churches, but this blew me away.

Architectural detail from Hallgrimskirja

We also visited a power station that generates enough electricity and geothermal energy to power the whole of Reykjavik. But I was more interested in the steel and glass viewing gallery and the giant wooden staircase.

Hellisheidi geothermal power plant

Viewing gallery in Hellisheidi 

Amazing staircase in Hellisheidi

Of course, as with all other city breaks, we enjoyed the usual 'sightsee-break for a coffee-food, sightsee-break for a coffee-food' routine, and Reykjavik didn't disappoint on that either.

Open art/graffiti space in downtown Reykjavik 

The Boy doing what he does best

Icelandic Skyr dessert and tea

Overall, a great trip. I'd most definitely recommend a visit.

The 50p Building

In stark contrast to the type of building I blogged about last time, the 50p Building (or to us it's official name 'No.1 Croydon'), is a bold 1970's skyscraper style building at the heart of Croydon. And, despite my love of Victorian, Regency and other traditional and classically beautiful styles of architecture, the 50p Building is one of my favourite landmarks.

I'm probably causing some controversy here, as it has been voted one of Britain's worst architectural eyesores, but thousands of people can be wrong. 

A little history for you: No.1 Croydon (formerly the Noble Lowndes Annuities or NLA Tower) sits right at the centre of Croydon, opposite East Croydon train station. It was designed by R. Seifert & Partners and completed in 1970. It has 24 stories and at 269 feet (82 m) high is Britain's 88th tallest tower. If someone was to convert this into flats, I'd be first in the queue (can you imagine? A lift at the centre, leading to each of the pentagon shaped flats? Genius.) Unfortunately, it is actually office space occupied by AIG (their UK headquarters), Directline Holidays, Pegasus and other companies.

The building was refurbished in 2007 including a cleaning of the exterior to rid the smog caused greyness and reveal a gleaming white. As it gets dark, it takes on a new feel - a multicoloured light display illuminates the building as people make their way home or are going out on the tiles.

And why do I like it so much? Ugly? Well, kinda - but it depends how you look at it. You can imagine this being the sign of the 'up-and coming commuter town', towering over the Borough. A time when a concrete tower was state of the art and an exciting sign of modernity. I love that, as it's nickname suggests, it really does look like a stack of 50p's left by a giant. It's a unique design, love it or hate it. I like seeing it on the horizon as I commute back from work, so I know I'm nearly home.

Whilst I do love the Gherkin, Battersea Power Station, and of course, the Eye, I'm happy for those to be everyone's favourites of landmarks of London, whilst the 50p building, is just one of mine.

(many thanks to the Wikipedia entry that educated me so much about this great building)