Tuesday 6 October 2009

NHM...Boring but worth a Blog.

I know it is a very old, traditional-style building but every time I drive past it it always takes my breath away. And my Great Grandfather helped lay the bricks so I also feel a hint of pride!

"Work began in 1873 and was completed in 1880. The new museum opened in 1881, although the move from the old museum was not fully completed until 1883.

Both the interiors and exteriors of the Waterhouse building make extensive use of terracotta tiles to resist the sooty climate of Victorian London, manufactured by the Tamworth-based company of Gibbs and Canning Limited. The tiles and bricks feature many relief sculptures of flora and fauna, with living and extinct species featured within the west and east wings respectively. This explicit separation was at the request of Owen, and has been seen as a statement of his contemporary rebuttal of Darwin's attempt to link present species with past through the theory of natural selection.

The central axis of the museum is aligned with the tower of Imperial College London (formerly the Imperial Institute) and the Royal Albert Hall and Albert Memorial further north. These all form part of the complex known colloquially as Albertopolis."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_Museum)


No comments:

Post a Comment