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Article: Thames view.(housing development at London Docklands in England)
- Article from:
- The Architectural Review
- Article date:
- December 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 EMAP Architecture. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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After long years of muddle, argument and indecision on the part of various authorities and politicians, London Docklands is being gradually redeveloped. Yet only a few architects and developers have had the courage to respond to the scale and traditions of the Thames.
Gustave Dore's nineteenth-century engravings of London Docklands depict the extraordinary activity of the Thames at the time, together with all the accompaniment of trade, the hoists and signs of warehouses, the bristling masts and rigging of ships that crowded the river and obscured the buildings. Life was harsh but the river was alive. Seeing the engravings, you feel the melancholy and abandonment ...