Posts Tagged: architecture

  • Goth woman on some neo-gothic steps

    Roman revenge and gothic revival

    An introduction to the goths Being gothic seems to be a common thing. We have gothic and neo-gothic architecture; gothic fonts; gothic literature and even in my youth a Goth post-punk music sub-culture. I lived in London in the mid to late 1980s. I was persuaded to go out one Friday night, straight after work […]

  • Stained glass window

    Windows are not always paneful

    By a strange coincidence I have a couple of new clients in the window business. One sells double-glazed modern windows and the other is a joiner who makes traditional timber windows. I have been writing and talking about windows a lot this week, so it must be time to look at the word. A window […]

  • The word "carbuncle" spearheaded Prince Charles’ attack on the designs of modern British architects. It became a popular and mainstream descriptor for ugly buildings.

    Carbuncle a gem of a word

    I struggled with the nine-letter word puzzle in the Sydney Morning Herald a few days ago (13 October 2009) to find, after rather too much time, the anagram’s solution was CARBUNCLE. I was disappointed for not recognising this delightful word which, twenty-five years before (in 1984) spearheaded Prince Charles’ attack on the designs of modern […]