King's Lynn Custom House

click photo to enlarge
I've written about the Custom House at King's Lynn before. This distinguished building of 1683 is an outstanding structure in a town of many remarkable old buildings. What I haven't mentioned - because I didn't know it at the time - is that, though it was built in the latest restrained classical style showing the influence of both Christopher Wren and Dutch architecture, it also carried on an old tradition that is seen in many old, semi-public buildings. When the Custom House began its life (as a merchants' exchange) the rounded-headed, ground floor arches were open to the street in the same way that medieval guildhalls, town halls and grammar schools often were. The upstairs room, as with these precursors, was always enclosed, and it remains so today. When were the arches blocked up? I don't know, but it may well have been quite early in the building's history.

The classic view of the Custom House has either the dock basin and Purfleet Quay, or the statue of George Vancouver in the foreground. On my recent visit to the town, on a cold day with regular heavy showers, I looked for a different composition for the building. My first attempt was from a point near the pedimented doorway on the distant left of the photograph. However, the shot that I post today from further up the road, into the light, making the most of the sky, and with the gleam of water on the setts of the road and footpaths, works much better. I think it's a photograph that wouldn't work as well without the evidence of recent rain to enliven the foreground. The bicycle stands, though of little practical use in that particular location - I've never seen a bike fixed to them -  also help to give the image some depth.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm
F No: f11
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: N/A 

Customs House, King's Lynn, Norfolk

click photo to enlarge
"When we build let us think that we build for ever"
John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic, social critic, artist, etc

Looking at some of the flimsy, banal, or downright ugly buildings that are thrown up today there are times when I think Ruskin was right: all buildings should be well-designed, beautiful, and durable. But then the more rational side of me comes to the fore and I acknowledge that a building should be designed to meet a specific purpose, and that purpose may disappear leaving a structure that can't be used for something else. However, when you see a power station turned into an art gallery (Tate Modern), churches become houses, bars, antique shops and more, and disused warehouses transformed into desirable apartments, then you think that perhaps Ruskin was right after all, and that every buildings should incorporate an element of flexibility so that it can have a life beyond its initial purpose.

The building shown reflected in the dock at King's Lynn, Norfolk, is the old Customs House. It was built in 1683 by the gentleman-architect, Henry Bell, who was also a merchant of the town. Its original purpose was a Merchants' Exchange. However, the first floor was let to the Collector of Customs who subsequently, in 1718, bought the entire building. Today it is a museum and houses the Tourist Information offices of the town. It seems to me to be a building that embraces Ruskin's injunction, and whilst it may not last "for ever", the durable, carefully cut stone, elegant proportions and refined beauty of the structure will ensure its longevity. The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, called it "one of the finest late C17 public buildings in provincial England." That endorsement, too, should guarantee that it lives on to meet future needs.

A while ago I posted a shot of this building with the statue of Captain George Vancouver in the foreground. Here I used the reflection and the water of the dock to fill the near space.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 25mm (50mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Commemorating George Vancouver

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The last decades of the twentieth century saw a revival of public sculpture in Britain. Local government and private developers sought to enhance public spaces by commissioning abstract and figurative pieces that gave a focus and interest to their immediate surroundings. It's not an exaggeration to say that it became something of an obsession, and moved from straightforward sculpture as the Victorians would have understood it to include the sculptural embellishment of ordinary street furniture.

Allegorical figures, birds, "environmental" pieces, seating, garden sculpture, panorama information boards, and more were erected in the years around the turn of the millennium. So too were some sculptures of people. However, unlike the Victorians we fought shy of commemorating the living (or even recently deceased), and seemed to concentrate on "filling in the gaps" i.e. erecting statues of some of those who were overlooked in past centuries. This, combined with a desire to celebrate and emphasise the individuality of smaller towns, led to explorers finding some favour in Lincolnshire, with Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) in Spilsby and Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) in Donington. Norfolk ("Nelson's County" as its boundary boards style it) also chose to commemorate an explorer. The King's Lynn resident, George Vancouver (1757-1798) was a Royal Navy captain responsible for exploring and mapping much of the coast of British Columbia, Alaska, Washington and Oregon, and after whom a number of North American locations are named.

Today's photograph shows his statue near the Customs House (built 1683) in King's Lynn. I suppose this image could be described as my attempt at a "tourist brochure" shot, embracing as it does the statue, building, anchors, chains, and cobbles of the dock surround. However, there's probably not enough blue in the sky, and those intruding cars certainly need physically or digitally removing before it could be considered fit for that purpose!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 12mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f13.
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On