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Review: Walk around Holborn and the Strand - 6 Aug 2008

On the eve of 6 August, CoreNet Global UK members enjoyed a guided tour by Benedict O'Looney and strolled through Holborn and the Strand looking at the architecture of the buildings that survived the Great Fire of London, which can best be described as a combination of gothic and renaissance styles. These surviving buildings hint at fashionable European design and fabric influences, as well as the competitive spirit within the acclaimed architects of this era; from 16th Century ‘skinny’ houses modelled after Amsterdam on Fleet Street, to the gothic- Italian influences sewn within the fabric of the stunningly symmetrical Law Court buildings and more commonly seen in Venetian buildings.

The group learned that many of the changes to this area were undertaken in order to improve both circulation and commutations after the fire, and in an aspiring higher society, to modernise the timber-framed buildings, which tended to house the poorer classes. Those architectural ‘gems’ which remain today, highlight the history, diversity, style and architectural progress in this important and historic section of London.