I thought I'd include a monochrome shot, for a change. This is one of the twin towers on the southern frontage of Salts Mill. (For a fuller view of the frontage, see my post of 19 June). I love the extravagance of this building! This is a textile mill, built in the dark ages of the Industrial Revolution, not a palace or a cathedral...and yet Titus Salt who commissioned it and the architects Lockwood and Mawson who designed it, decided to make it a beautiful building as well as a functional one. The design is Italianate, inspired by some of the great classical buildings of Rome, Venice and Florence.I recently enjoyed the Channel 4 TV series "Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour", which explored how Britain's architecture was influenced and shaped by ideas brought back by young men (such as Inigo Jones) making 'The Grand Tour' and studying the buildings designed by great architects like Palladio. Whilst the link with Saltaire is indirect, I think it's there.
Beautiful and lovely shot !! Nice description !
ReplyDeleteYes, it shares that Italianate feel that you get with Listers' Mill in Bradford. And the monochrome shot suites it so well (especially when enlarged) emphasising, as it does the line and the shapes.
ReplyDeleteI think the factories built during the Industrial can be considered the equivalent to the cathedrals built during the Middle Ages. One honored god, the other honors industry. Today's cathedrals are built to honor money, I wonder what that says about us.
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