Christopher Howse

The art of street furniture

On his lockdown rambles, Christopher Howse finds beauty and solace in London’s coal plates, bollards and brick bonds

Look down! The patterns on coal plates, 150 of which were recorded in sketches by a medical student in 1863, were incised to stop people slipping 
issue 29 August 2020

It was possible to stand in the middle of the road during the lockdown without being run over. In Willow Place, near Victoria Station, I crouched over a narrow grating of stout grey iron, and caught a glimpse of light reflected from moving water deep below, as though at the bottom of a well.

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