Latvia Visit

Just back from Latvia and the AIA visit which, although I organised it, seemed to go well and was most enjoyable, despite some bureaucracy.
The weather was wonderful, once the rain stopped at 9.29 on the first morning when we were due to set off at 9.30. The rain is something to hear, on metal roofs, and see, as it pours across special grooves in the pavement to make large puddles in the road.
Riga is a large metropolitan city but out in the country, things are different in the countryside. Even the major roads are in poor repair while many of the minor roads are dirt tracks.
We visited Liepaja which, under soviet rule, was a restricted city. It is today a city of three parts, the old city with many picturesque wooden buildings, the Tsarist industrial area and the former naval port. The naval port was developed in the 1880s with many fine red brick buildings which have survived better than the 1960s high rise flats. Today the only people living there are the poorest of the Russians who couldn't afford to leave when the rest of the Russians left. Its really the only place where you see little bullet-headed children begging.
The countryside was interesting too, on our coach trip from the capital to Liepaja, flat or rolling countryside with few towns but many extended farmsteads. Many of the fields were planted withy rape or corn but there were few animals to be seen, only a few tethered cows.
Riga, although quite a large city is easy enough to explore on foot or by public transport. No metro but lots of trolleybuses or trams. There is no traffic in the heart of the old city but beware of the awkward paved surfaces where it is easy to turn an ankle. The native Rigans wear what seem like the most inappropriate high heeled footwear which you would think would catch in the joins between the reinforced concrete paving.
Perhaps the most interesting site to me was the VEF complex which has originally belonged to the German company AEG which accounts for the two Peter Behrens buildings still to be found on the site. The huge brick assembly building with an integral water tower looks very similar to the one at the AEG headquarters in Berlin.

The picture above is the original factory building of VEF which still remains on Brivibas iela which now has much more traffic! One of the problems is how slowly traffic moves around the city especially here close to a railway bridge which serves as a pinch point for traffic.

Crayford

Off to Crayford on Sunday to check out Daniel's GLIAS walk in June. (See Glias Newsletter at www.glias.org.uk/) Once Crayford was a busy industrial centre with textile printing and heavy industry at Vickers. Today all trace of Victorian industry had gone with much of the city centre covered in retail parks and industrial estates that are more warehouses than manufacturing. BUT there are traces of what the area once was. The most important feature was the River Cray which rises in Orpington and then joins the Darenth. It supported various industries such as textile printing and tanning. At one time in the long and distant past there was even an iron mill here - there still is an Iron Mill Lane.
We started at the bridge over over the river by Riverside which has now been landscaped. The Cray then wanders off northwards skirting the development of houses which were built for Vickers workers during World War 1. Check out the excellent Ideal Homes website for local history and great pictures. www.ideal-homes.org.uk/index1a.html



This is Green Walk which looks quiite similar today but with lots of cars cluttering the place up.

The Vickers site in the centre of town was lasted until the 1960s. The complex had been started by Hiram Maxim who manufactured his machine gun here. Later once Vickers was in charge, Crayford built the Vickers Vimy bomber, the plane in which Alcock and Brown crossed the Atlantic in 1919. Various anonymous industrial buildings remain at the back of the site close to the river but its difficult to know now what they were used for.

Perhaps the most obvious industrial building to remain is the clock tower built in 1902 to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII which also housed a sewage lift pump! The view below was taken in 1955 and shows both the tower and the works.

April's Picture

April's picture was of the Parliament building which Hungarians say was based on our Parliament building! One of the few impressive buildings on the river front. Budapest is full of fabulous buildings and lots of IA. It has not been over restored as Prague has been but also has plenty of art nouveau especially the work of Odon Lechner.

May

May already and so few posts in April! Not that I haven't been busy. The new membership year for GLIAS has begn with lots of post and lots of new members to process. Last weekend we even managed to get out for a walk in Southwark and Blackfriars which is where I took this month's 'picture of the month'. The Pru building has been well restored and its faience facade is a great feature.